FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Brooklyn Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for
Leading Police on a Car Chase, Striking Multiple Vehicles
Sped and Ran Red Light While Driving Stolen Car in East New York
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Brooklyn man has been sentenced to five years in prison for fleeing police in a stolen car, speeding, and striking multiple vehicles in East New York, Brooklyn. The incident happened just over a year after the defendant was released from prison following an assault conviction that stemmed from dragging and seriously wounding an NYPD officer in another stolen car when he was 15.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “It is pure luck that more people were not injured or killed by this defendant’s reckless behavior, and he deserves every day of this prison sentence, especially because of his history of dangerous and destructive conduct. Serious charges and vigorous prosecution were important to protect the public from harm, and I hope that he will use his prison term to finally grow up and learn from his mistakes.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Justin Murrell, 20, of Brownsville, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun to five years in prison. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree assault on March 28, 2022 and accepted the Court’s offer. The DA’s Office’s plea offer was to the maximum sentence of seven years.
The District Attorney said that on May 23, 2021, at about 1:15 a.m., two police officers in an unmarked car received a radio call and turned on their vehicle’s lights and sirens. The defendant, driving a 2021 Honda Accord that was reported stolen by a Valley Stream dealership eight days earlier, was just ahead of the police car and took off at a high rate of speed, running a steady red light.
The defendant, with three passengers in the car, led police on a chase over several blocks, running another red light and driving on the sidewalk. He struck two parked cars and a car that was stopped at a stop sign at the intersection of Wyona Street and Riverdale Avenue. Other responding officers directed him to stop, but the defendant kept going.
He sped through another steady light into oncoming traffic and crashed into two vehicles at New Lots and Georgia Avenues, causing both drivers to suffer minor injuries. He finally stopped at the corner of New Lots and Van Sinderen Avenues, stumbled out of the Honda and attempted to flee. He was apprehended one block away, on the corner of Junius Street. The defendant had no valid driver’s license, and the Honda had forged Alabama license plates.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Carbajal, of the District Attorney’s Red Zone Trial Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Andrea Orlando, Deputy Bureau Chief, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Karla Watson, Bureau Chief.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.