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Queens ATV Driver Gets 7 Years for Dragging Cop in 2014 Brooklyn Chase

By Noah Hurowitz | October 13, 2017 4:34pm | Updated on October 16, 2017 8:48am
 Kenny Ortiz, 36, was sentenced to seven years on Friday for the 2014 dragging of an NYPD detective during an attempted traffic stop in East New York, prosecutors said.
Kenny Ortiz, 36, was sentenced to seven years on Friday for the 2014 dragging of an NYPD detective during an attempted traffic stop in East New York, prosecutors said.
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Brooklyn District Attorney's office

BROOKLYN — An ATV driver convicted of dragging an NYPD officer during a 2014 chase in East New York will spend seven years in prison for his crime, according to prosecutors.

Kenny Ortiz, 36, of Ozone Park, was sentenced in Brooklyn Supreme Court Friday after pleading guilty last month to aggravated assault on an officer for the March 2, 2014 incident, which left a 40-year-old NYPD detective with numerous broken bones and other wounds, according to acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.

“This defendant was driving recklessly before injuring a courageous officer who tried to stop him,” Gonzalez said. “Such lawless behavior on our roads is dangerous and unacceptable, making him fully deserving of the prison sentence that was imposed today.”

Ortiz, decked out in a helmet emblazoned with skulls according to a police sketch artist, was driving the ATV on Conduit Boulevard near Pitkin Avenue at about 3:30 p.m. that day when NYPD Detective Matt McClusky and his partner, driving in an unmarked van, spotted him weaving through traffic and driving on sidewalks, according to prosecutors.

When Ortiz stopped at a red light, McClusky, wearing his badge around his neck, hopped out and stood in front of the vehicle, ordering Ortiz to stop and shut off his engine, but Instead, Ortiz bolted forward, dragging McClusky for a city block, the DA said.

McClusky was taken to Jamaica Hospital Center with severe injuries, including broken and fractured bones in his face and pelvis, an open gash on his leg, and a punctured ankle, according to police reports.

Ortiz managed to zoom off, but he turned himself in to the authorities five days later on March 7, 2014, and was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, assault with a serious weapon, assault on a police officer, attempted aggravated vehicular homicide, resisting arrest and other driving related violations, according to police reports at the time.

He told police he didn’t know McClusky was a police officer, but investigators later found the ATV dismantled in his girlfriend’s garage, according to prosecutors.

Ortiz was initially held on $250,000 bond, which he managed to pay sometime later, and was free on bail until his sentencing Friday, records show. In addition to the seven-year sentence, he will also be subject to five years of supervision after his release, according to prosecutors.