In People v. Mundo, 99 N.Y.2d 55 (2002) the Court held that a search of a vehicle was proper when the police lawfully attempted to stop the vehicle, the defendant and his companions twice disobeyed the officer's instructions, the vehicle nearly struck a pedestrian, and the defendant tried to "stash" something in the middle area of the rear seat. The Court wrote: "The blatant disregard of the officers' directions, the obvious lack of concern for the safety of others, in addition to defendant's suspicious acts, created a perceptible risk to the officers that a weapon located within the vehicle would be a specific danger to their safety." (Id. at 59.) The Court found that a wild car chase and furtive movements by the occupants constituted a sufficient factual foundation to support the officers' reasonable conclusion that " a weapon located within the vehicle presented an actual and specific danger' to their safety". 99 NY at 59. In Mundo, the police attempted to stop an automobile for a traffic infraction, the car initiated a cat-and-mouse pursuit by accelerating and decelerating, nearly striking a pedestrian in the process. During the chase, the defendant, who was seated in the back seat, turned around, looked at the officers and moved in a way that appeared as if he were hiding something. After the police stopped the automobile, removed the occupants and frisked them, one officer searched the area of the vehicle where the defendant had been seated. The officer pulled down the armrest located at the backseat center, revealing a panel that led to the trunk. Smelling a strong odor of a chemical compound used to "cut" or "cook" cocaine, the officer opened the trunk and recovered almost a kilogram of cocaine. Finding the search lawful, the Court affirmed the lower courts' denial of Mundo's motion to suppress the drugs. Id. at 57.