Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a 33-year-old Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for shooting at two New York City Police Officers after they stopped him because he was acting suspiciously and fidgeting with his waistband. After firing at the officers the defendant fled and led multiple officers on a chase through East Flatbush before being caught.

District Attorney Thompson said, “This defendant opened fire on police officers who were simply doing their job. We are lucky that these officers – and the others who helped to apprehend the defendant – were not killed. This case underscores the dangers our police officers face every day during the course of their shift. ”
The District Attorney said that the defendant, Jerry Benoit, 33, of Bergen Street, in Crown Heights, was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dineen Riviezzo to the maximum sentence of 20 years for each of two counts of attempted aggravated assault on a police officer, which she ordered to run consecutively. The defendant was also sentenced to 15 years for each of his two convictions for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, which she ordered to run concurrent to the 40 years. The defendant was convicted last month following a six-week jury trial.

The District Attorney said that, according to the trial testimony, on September 23, 2011, at approximately 12:05 a.m., NYPD Sergeant Mourad Mourad and his partner, Police Officer Dennis Steele, were in an unmarked vehicle in the vicinity of East 49th Street and Linden Boulevard, when they saw the defendant acting suspiciously. They stopped their vehicle, got out and identified themselves as police officers, at which time the defendant, while fleeing, fired at Sgt. Mourad.

The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, Sgt. Mourad and P.O. Steele lost sight of the defendant, and other police officers, including from the aviation unit, joined in the search. The defendant was then spotted jumping a fence on East 48th Street, where he was briefly confronted by another police officer, before jumping back over the fence and firing several times at police officers. He was shot by police, who exchanged fire, and a weapon and bullet proof vest, as well as discarded clothing matching Sgt. Mourad’s description, were found at his side.

(YWN Desk – NYC)