Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
In December 1992, the defendant and several codefendants (see, People v Martinez, 222 A.D.2d 702 [decided herewith]), kidnapped a victim and held him in a building on the Horace Harding Expressway in Queens for several days. The perpetrators demanded approximately $60,000 in ransom money (later reduced to about $30,000) from the victim's relatives and friends. The evidence at trial showed that this defendant punched, kicked, and threatened to kill the victim with a gun. When police officers arrived at the scene, they found the defendant guarding the handcuffed victim in a small back room of the building, and arrested him. The officers subsequently recovered the gun from a wastebasket where the victim indicated it had been hidden.
These facts and circumstances, when viewed together, convinced the experienced officers that the defendant was a participant in the kidnapping; hence, there was probable cause for his arrest (see, People v Oden, 36 N.Y.2d 382, 384; see also, People v Bigelow, 66 N.Y.2d 417, 423; People v Pegram, 203 A.D.2d 391; People v Fernandez, 185 A.D.2d 944, 945; People v Javier, 175 A.D.2d 182). Moreover, the gun seized pursuant to the lawful arrest was properly used to prove the defendant's guilt at trial (see, e.g., Wong Sun v United States, 371 U.S. 471; People v Young, 55 N.Y.2d 419, 424, cert denied 459 U.S. 848).
During the trial, which lasted more than three weeks, a sworn juror became "unavailable for continued service" pursuant to CPL 270.35. The court conducted a reasonably thorough inquiry and recited on the record the facts and reasons for the dismissal of the juror, as required (see, People v Page, 72 N.Y.2d 69, 73; cf., People v Peregda, 164 A.D.2d 849; People v Paniaqua, 160 A.D.2d 334).
The defendant's sentence was not excessive (see, People v Suitte, 90 A.D.2d 80, 86).
The defendant's remaining contentions are either unpreserved for appellate review (see, CPL 470.05) or without merit. Copertino, J.P., Pizzuto, Santucci and Joy, JJ., concur.