DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — The 15-year-old boy who dragged an NYPD officer with a stolen car, leaving him in a coma with "catastrophic head and brain injuries" was indicted by a grand jury on attempted murder and assault, prosecutors said.
Justin Murrell wore a white T-shirt and gray sweatpants with his hands cuffed behind his back as he was arraigned on the indictment charges inside a Brooklyn courtroom packed with uniformed police officers Friday morning.
"This appalling and senseless criminal behavior will be prosecuted to the fullest extent because we simply won’t allow anyone to put our police officers in harm’s way. My thoughts and prayers are with Officer Veve and his family," said Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
Murrell was behind the wheel of a stolen Honda in East Flatbush that night when Officer Dalsh Veve, who was in plainclothes, came up to investigate reports of shots fired in the area, police said.
Murrell put his foot to the gas and sped off, dragging Veve along East 53rd Street near Tilden Avenue, police said.
Veve fired his service weapon as he was dragged, hitting Murrell in the chin, officials said.
Veve, a Haitian immigrant with a 2-year-old daughter, was still in a coma and listed in critical condition Friday morning, prosecutors said.
Murrell was injured in the incident and brought himself to the hospital where he was taken into custody, police said. He was released from the hospital Friday morning, officials said.
He's been arrested "numerous" times before, prosecutors said. In 2015, he was arrested for robbery, menacing and criminal possession of stolen property, they said. In April, he was arrested for burglary, they added.
Judge Dineen Riviezzo held Murrell without bail because she was "very concerned about his numerous prior contacts with the criminal justice system," she said.
Two young women — Eboni Clinton, 19, and Jeronda Oliver, 18 — were also arrested for hindering prosecution of the case, officials said at the time.
