Jury socks city for $2M in slay by cop
A BROOKLYN JURY has awarded $2.5 million to the mother of a 25-year-old man shot and killed by police in 2008 — a shooting that cops maintain was accidental.
The surprise jury verdict against the city and Brooklyn NYPD Inspector John Chell was announced Friday following a five-week trial.
In reaching its verdict, the jury determined that Chell “intentionally discharged” his firearm at Ortanzso Bovell. Witnesses say Chell shot Bovell as he fled in a stolen car.
On Aug. 7, 2008, Chell was a lieutenant in charge of the Brooklyn South auto larceny squad. He and his team found Bovell breaking into a 2004 Mustang GT at Remsen Ave. and Lenox Road in East Flatbush around 8 p.m., cops said.
Bovell tried to speed off in the car and sideswiped Chell as he tried to escape, according to initial reports.
Chell, who had taken out his weapon, fell. His gun went off as Bovell drove away, striking him in the back — a chain of events corroborated by several witnesses.
Both the department and the Brooklyn district attorney’s office closed out the case in short order without charging Chell, officials said.
During a five-week civil wrongful death trial that began in February, Chell was on the witness stand for three days. He stuck to his claims that Bovell’s death was an accident — but the jury didn’t buy it.
“He maintained that he started to fall and the gun went off,” said Jon Norinsberg, the attorney for Bovell’s mother, Lorna Wright-Bovell. “But we proved that the ballistics contradicted this — that the shooting had to be done by someone firing from a standing position.”
Wright-Bovell said the verdict had given her closure. “I’m not saying my son didn’t do anything wrong — but they could have arrested him,” she said. “Don’t kill him.”
The shooting marked the third time Chell had fired his weapon.
Chell has steadily moved up the ranks and is currently the commanding officer of the 75th Precinct in East New York, officials said. He was never disciplined for killing Bovell and the NYPD will not reexamine the shooting in light of the verdict, a high-ranking police source said.
Chell did not return a message.