Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
Following the completion of jury selection, the defense counsel moved for a mistrial upon the ground that the prosecutor had exercised his peremptory challenges in order to strike the only four black members of the venire. The County Court, even though the United States Supreme Court had yet to hand down its landmark decision in Batson v. Kentucky ( 476 U.S. 79), mandating that under such circumstances the prosecution must articulate a race-neutral explanation for the use of its peremptory challenges, properly provided the prosecution with such an opportunity (see also, Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314; People v. Scott, 70 N.Y.2d 420; People v. Bridget, 139 A.D.2d 587, lv denied 72 N.Y.2d 911). Upon our examination of the record herein, we find that the prosecutor's race-neutral explanation for the use of his peremptory challenges sufficiently rebutted the defendant's prima facie showing of purposeful discrimination (Batson v. Kentucky, supra; People v. Bridget, supra).
The record fails to support the defendant's contention that the admission of evidence of his alleged flight and the court's subsequent charge on that evidence deprived him of a fair trial (Richardson, Evidence § 637 [Prince 10th ed]; People v. Lagana, 36 N.Y.2d 71; People v. Yazum, 13 N.Y.2d 302, rearg denied 15 N.Y.2d 679; see also, People v. Allen, 61 A.D.2d 619, affd 48 N.Y.2d 760; People v. Stilwell, 244 N.Y. 196; cf., People v. Edmond, 118 A.D.2d 797).
We have considered the defendant's remaining contention and find that it was unpreserved for appellate review and, in any event, without merit. Thompson, J.P., Brown, Rubin and Eiber, JJ., concur.