Cop shoots, kills driver following Belt Parkway car chase

A police officer shot and killed Jumaane Wright, 28, after he almost struck a cop during a car chase near the Belt Parkway on April 28, NYPD said.

At 8:05 p.m., police said its community response team was on the Belt Parkway around Bay Street when they saw a Porsche with suspicious plates.

Chief of Department John Chell said that officers conducted a plate check on the vehicle and it came back to be stolen. 

“It was later discovered that this vehicle, in fact, was stolen out of Pennsylvania,” he said. “When the officers attempted to pull the car over on Cropsey Avenue, the vehicle exited and within a high rate of speed got back on the Belt Parkway eastbound. At this time, our officer didn’t pursue but radioed ahead to adjoining precincts that a stolen vehicle was heading that direction.”

Wright was allegedly driving at a high speed and maneuvered into the direction of officers who set up a roadblock at exit 13, almost hitting one. 

An officer shot at the car, hitting the driver. The Porsche stopped after hitting an NYPD vehicle on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Officers said they performed life-saving measures on Wright. He was taken to the Brookdale Hospital, where he died.

The New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation has opened an investigation into Wright’s death.

“I was very surprised to hear that because in this neighborhood, it’s not very prominent,” said local Doris Isakoe. “We thought it was just a really bad accident on the Belt Parkway.”