Brooklyn teen car thief gets reduced sentence in 2017 dragging of permanently disabled NYPD detective

Infuriated law enforcers blasted a Brooklyn judge for sentencing a teen car thief to just four years in jail Wednesday after he dragged a city cop two blocks with a stolen car -- leaving the heroic officer with brain damage.

Assistant District Attorney Melissa Carvajal, in a courtroom filled with NYPD officers, implored the sentencing judge to whack defendant Justin Murrell with the maximum term of a decade in the life-altering June 3, 2017, assault on Officer Dalsh Veve.

But Judge Ruth Shillingford handed down a term of just 1 1/3 to four years for Murrell, well below the top jail term of 3 1/3 to 10 years, to incite a harsh cavalcade of criticism.

The wheelchair-bound Veve, 36, sat in the courtroom after arriving with his wife for the sentencing.

Murrell, 17, "will not be rehabilitated by a lenient sentence," Carvajal argued, citing the defendant's 11 arrests -- including three felony robberies -- and three parole violations on those crimes.

"This would be Mr. Murrell's fourth, fifth, sixth chance," continued Carvajal. "This (defendant) has forfeited his right to be in society."

Veve was in a coma for four weeks, required multiple surgeries, and can no longer eat or feed himself 19 months later.

The head of the police union and the Brooklyn District Attorney ripped Shillingford for going soft on the recidivist teen despite their calls for the longest term possible.

"I've never been so angry," barked Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch. "(The judge) spit on every shield on every chest in the city, and she spit on the family.

"In four years, this potential cop killer will be back on the streets. This is outrageous."

Not even the emotional appeal of Veve's wife could sway Shillingford. The officer's injuries are so disabling that he at times doesn't recognize their daughter, said Esther Veve.

"You can't imagine how that breaks my heart," she told the court.

Shillingford warned the two dozen police officers at the hearing to offer no response when the sentence was imposed, and the angry cops complied.

A spokesman for Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez blasted Murrell as "a danger to society" and ripped Shillingford for ignoring the entreaties of law enforcement.

"The judge should have...imposed the maximum sentence and it is regrettable that she failed to do so," said spokesman Oren Yaniv. "The rule of law, the safety of our police officers and the circumstances of this case demanded a more appropriate penalty."