Driver Who Hit NYPD Detective With ATV Gets 7 Years In Prison, Prosecutors Say

EAST NEW YORK, BROOKLYN — The Queens man who hit an NYPD detective with an ATV and dragged him down an East New York street will serve seven years in prison, prosecutors announced Friday.

Kenny Ortiz, 36, was sentenced after pleading guilty to ramming a yellow all-terrain vehicle into Detective Matt McCluskey on the corner of Conduit Boulevard and Pitkin Avenue on March 2, 2014, according to a statement from the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.

The detective had jumped out of his unmarked police van and tried to stop Ortiz —whom he had seen driving recklessly on the streets and sidewalks of East New York — by standing in front of the vehicle, according to prosecutors.

Instead of pulling over, Ortiz hit the gas, struck McCluskey and dragged him a full city block before speeding away, said prosecutors.

The NYPD detective suffered several broken bones, a fractured pelvis, a punctured ankle and broken nose, prosecutors said.

Five days later, Ortiz turned himself in to police and confessed to hitting McCluskey, but said he didn’t know he was an NYPD officer, prosecutors said.

But during his trial, McCluskey testified that he had been wearing a badge around his neck and identified himself as a policeman when he told Ortiz to stop, said prosecutors.

Ortiz pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated assault on a police officer in September and was sentenced in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Oct. 13, prosecutors said.

Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn District Attorney's office