Brooklyn Teen Gets 4 Years For Dragging Cop With Stolen Car: DA

FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN -- A Brooklyn teen who left a police officer with "life-changing" brain damage when he threw the cop from a stolen car was sentenced to up to four years in prison, according to prosecutors.

Justin Murrell, 17, was sentenced after being convicted of assault, but not attempted murder, for his run-in with Officer Dalsh Veve, 36, on the corner of Tilden Avenue and East 53rd Street on June 3, 2017, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.

Brooklyn Supreme Court judge Ruth Shillingford declined to inflict the maximum 10-year sentence despite a request from the Brooklyn District Attorney's office that she do so, prosecutors said.

"[Murrell] has repeatedly proven that he has no regard for the rule of law and is a danger to society," said Oren Yaniv, a District Attorney’s office spokesman.

"The judge should have therefore imposed the maximum sentence and it is regrettable that she failed to do so."

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Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch also spoke out against the ruling from the Brooklyn courthouse where Murrell was sentenced, according to reports.

“This hero police officer stood the blue line every day to protect our rights," Lynch told CBS New York. "That mutt crossed the line every time he could."

But the Legal Aid Society, whose attorneys defended Murrell, chastised the PBA president for what they said were, "incendiary comments demonstrating a lack of respect for the judiciary and the court process.”

“Since the day of the incident, the Police Benevolent Association and others have villainized our 15 year-old client and manipulated the facts," the Legal Aid Society said in a statement.

"Judge Shillingford imposed the sentence after having heard all the evidence at trial, and considering jurisprudence addressing adolescent development and culpability."

Murrell was convicted in December of assaulting Veve, who was investigating reported gunshots at the East Flatbush corner when he walked up to an idling black Honda Civic and put his hands on the car, prosecutors said.

The teen hit the gas and sped away at about 60 miles-per-hour as the police officer clung to the side of the car, said prosecutors.

When Veve pulled out his gun and shot the teen in the jaw, Murrell swerved and threw him onto the concrete before crashing the stolen Honda, prosecutors said.

“Officer Veve’s heroism exemplifies the most courageous duty demanded of our men and women in uniform, the willingness to put one’s self in harm’s way to protect the lives of others," Yaniv said. "He suffered life-changing injuries due to this defendant’s actions."

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