July 18, 2000

S.I. Cop Dead in Crash

Hits phone pole in high-speed chase of motorcyclist

By MICHELE McPHEE and ALICE McQUILLAN
Daily News Staff Writers

police officer from a family of cops was killed after his car crashed as he chased a motorcycle with stolen license plates on Staten Island yesterday.

John Kelly, one of four brothers on the force and the husband of a police officer, died about 3 1/2 hours after slamming into a telephone pole during the high-speed pursuit.

Doctors at St. Vincent's Medical Center on Staten Island revived Kelly three times, keeping him alive until his mother, Marge, arrived to say goodbye to the 31-year-old father of two.

"When he was found on the scene, he was in cardiac arrest and they revived him," Mayor Giuliani said. "The hospital kept him alive long enough for his mother to be here."

The violent death of the second officer killed in the line of duty this year sparked an outpouring of grief from fellow cops, who vowed to capture the motorcyclist.

"You should pay for what you've done to these souls," Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch warned the suspect.

Police Commissioner Howard Safir said the motorcyclist will face vehicular homicide charges when caught.

"John Kelly died a hero," Safir said of the decorated eight-year NYPD veteran, who worked in the Staten Island auto larceny unit. "He did what he loved to do, what he was trained to do."

The tragedy unfolded at 1:15 p.m., when Kelly — in uniform but in an unmarked car — ran a license plate check on a black Suzuki with high handle bars spotted careening down Forest Ave.

He quickly learned the plates had been reported stolen in May from a motorcycle owned by a Manhattan man.

Kelly, who was driving a 1999 four-door Chevy Lumina, chased the motorcycle.

As they sped up Forest Ave., the biker attempted to make a U-turn to avoid the officer, and Kelly followed. While trying to turn the Lumina around, he apparently lost control of the car, and it began spinning, police sources said.

At 1:23 p.m., the Lumina slammed into a telephone pole at Forest and Gulf Aves., cops said.

The car smashed into the pole at the driver's-side door. The force wrapped each end of the Lumina around the pole and hurled Kelly into the back seat. It was unclear if he was wearing a seatbelt, police said.

The motorcyclist sped away on Forest Ave. Kelly's lights and siren were still on when his fellow officers arrived at the scene.

Kelly's family of cops descended on the hospital along with Giuliani, Safir and dozens of officers. They formed a circle of hope and prayer around Kelly until 4:55 p.m., when doctors pronounced him dead.

"He's a guy who gets into his job," said his partner, Officer Bill Panzella, who normally would have been in the Lumina with Kelly but was on vacation yesterday. "He's very knowledgeable about auto crime."

Kelly had followed family tradition and joined the NYPD in July 1992. His brothers, Thomas, James and Daniel, are on the force.

His wife, Patricia Duffy, works at the 120th Precinct on Staten Island. The couple has two sons, 8-month-old Christopher and Sean, who turns 3 next month.

Two of Duffy's brothers are cops, a third is a firefighter and her sister is a retired NYPD lieutenant.

"The whole family served the city," Lynch said. "We ask all New Yorkers to pray for him."

Anyone with information is asked to call (800) 577-TIPS.

Kelly is the second city cop killed in the line of duty this year. On May 28, Officer Dave Regan, 27, was killed in a collision with a newspaper truck in Brooklyn while racing to what turned out to be an unfounded call of shots fired.