‘Doesn’t belong here’
Cop tells of Karina susp, is hit on race
The NYPD cop whose hunch led to the arrest of the man accused of murdering Karina Vetrano three years ago, was reeled into a tense exchange over racial profiling Thursday after testifying in the retried case.
Lt. Detective John Russo had just finished telling jurors about following Chanel Lewis in Howard Beach three months before the killing because he viewed Lewis, who is black, as a “suspicious person.”
After finishing testimony, Russo, who is white, walked out of the courtroom to be confronted by Michael Thomas, a 51-year-old activist.
“You’re taking us back to the time of Trayvon Martin,” Thomas said, referring to the black teenager who was shot dead in Florida seven years ago. “If he was Caucasian, would you have followed him?”
A stone-faced Russo offered a one-word response: “Absolutely.”
Karina Vetrano, 30, went jogging by herself on Aug. 2, 2016. When she didn’t come home, her father searched for and eventually found her bloodied body among the tall weeds of nearby Spring Creek Park.
As the investigation got underway, Russo remembered seeing Lewis, 22, in the mostly white enclave months before. It was May 30. He had just come from the playground with his young daughters when he saw Lewis, who was wearing a white sweatshirt and track pants.
“We’re going for a little ride,” he recalled telling his girls, while on the stand. “As I passed him, he was stopping in front of several different houses on the street.”
Russo said he saw Lewis looking into yards and driveways. He followed him for 45 minutes because, he testified, Lewis acted like thieves he encountered in the past.
The next day, he got a phone notification of a suspicious man wondering around Howard Beach. The alert originated from a 911 call placed by Angelo Guarino, 65.
“He definitely doesn’t belong here,” Guarino said in the call, that was played back for jurors Thursday.
“I said he could be robbing houses. I don’t know what he’s doing there,” Guarino testified.
He was speaking of Lewis, who police stopped outside a Cross Bay Blvd. bank. Russo spoke to the cops who stopped, but did not arrest, Lewis.
Months later, while investigating Vetrano’s murder, Russo remembered Lewis. Detectives went to Lewis’ Brooklyn home to request a DNA sample, which he provided. It matched DNA found on Vetrano’s body.
“Did you find the defendant suspicious because of the color of his skin?” asked Queens Assistant District Attorney Brad Leventhal. Lewis’ attorney Bob Moeller objected, leading Leventhal to rephrase his question.
“What is it about the conduct of the defendant that caused you to be suspicious?” he asked.
“His manner of dress and the way he was acting,” Russo replied.