White Cop Rewarded with Promotion. Won't Face Discipline in Racist System. From [HERE] A Brooklyn jury has awarded $2.5 million to the grieving mother of a 25-year-old Black man shot and killed by white police officer 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.
The police in initial reports claimed that Bovell tried to speed off in the car and sideswiped Chell as he tried to escape.
Chell, who had taken out his weapon, fell and his gun went off as Bovell drove away, striking him in the back. Both the department and the Brooklyn DA, who was white, closed out the case in short order without charging Chell, officials said. White prosecutors believe almost anything white cops tell them.
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.
Since Bovell’s death, Chell has [been rewarded by the system of racism] steadily moved up the ranks and is 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.
“It’s gratifying to see that the jury saw through everything and got to the truth,” Norinsberg said about the verdict. “It’s a very tough thing...the verdict sheet asks if (Chell) intentionally discharged his firearm. That’s a very tall order, but the jury said yes.”
Norinsberg said the NYPD and the Brooklyn DA’s office quickly swept the case under the rug, compounding the injustice brought upon Bovell’s family.
He said one particularly disturbing aspect of the case was that the city Medical Examiner ruled the shooting a homicide on Sept. 3, 2008 — the very same day the DA’s office closed its investigation on the grounds the shooting was accidental.
“This case stuck with me. It’s the kind of case that keeps you up at night because a real injustice happened,” Norinsberg said.