Thompson

By jury trial appellant was convicted of possession of phencyclidine (PCP). (Health & Saf. Code, § 11377, subd. (a).) He was sentenced to state prison.

At 9 p.m. on September 8, 1979, Los Angeles Police Officers Strong and Osman were on patrol in the Nickerson Gardens area. They were eastbound on 115th Street when they observed appellant talking to another man at the corner of a parking lot on the north side of the street. They pulled their police car into the parking lot. Appellant looked in their direction, then he and the other man split up. Walking northbound in the parking lot, with the police car on his left, which was also pro ceeding northbound and in the process of overtaking him, appellant reached with his right hand into his right jacket pocket, removed a bottle, held it down his right side, then dropped or threw the bottle, which rolled into the gutter of the parking lot.

When they saw appellant drop the bottle, the officers got out of their vehicle. Officer Strong detained appellant while Officer Osman retrieved the bottle. The other man got away. There were no other persons on the east side of the parking lot. The bottle contained six PCP cigarettes.

The…