STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.— Trial proceedings remain ongoing this week in the case of a police pursuit-turned shots fired incident on Staten Island that prosecutors say nearly killed three NYPD officers.
Last week, the intensity of the death-defying pursuit through several commercial corridors was on full display as the jury watched dashcam footage and heard testimony from police who responded on the evening of May 11, 2025.
Prosecutors said the pursuit ended when the defendant, Divante Pitt, 32, of Manhattan, crossed the double yellow on the 200 block of Port Richmond Avenue toward the NYPD unit, while firing several shots through his own windshield toward the officers.
The defense has suggested the split seconds surrounding the crash and shots fired may not have unfolded the way prosecutors say they did.
Footage shows near death pursuit
The jury on Sept. 22 watched footage of the high-speed pursuit, captured on the dashboard camera of an unmarked, NYPD issue-Chevy Impala operated by officers who initiated the pursuit. As jurors watched, the officer behind the wheel of the Impala testified from the witness stand.
The pursuit first unfolded at about 7:30 p.m., while it was still daylight, on what happened to be Mother’s Day.
Neighborhood Safety Officer Anthony Gitto testified that he and his partner were parked outside a 7-11 on Forest Avenue in Mariners Harbor, when he spotted the defendant pass by in a gray Nissan Murano. The dash cam footage shows the vehicle pass by with the passenger’s side window down.
An enhanced map shows the two mile path in about five minutes of a police pursuit through commercial corridors from Mariners Harbor to Port Richmond. Illustration created with AI tools
Gitto testified that the tint on the other windows of the vehicle appeared illegal, so he began to tail the defendant. He activated his lights as the defendant, he said, illegally shifted lanes.
The video shows the gray SUV speed off down Forest Avenue through traffic. As the defendant reached Forest and Richmond avenues in Graniteville, he was spotted by NYPD officers in a marked unit who joined the pursuit, according to court proceedings.
Entering Port Richmond, the defendant veered left from Forest Avenue onto Port Richmond Avenue, with at least three marked and unmarked police vehicles in pursuit. The video shows some units falling in line behind the chase vehicle, while others maneuver along side streets to cut off the suspect.
Gitto said that at one point, as he was turning back onto Port Richmond Avenue, he heard “multiple gunshots.” In cross examination, he couldn’t recall how many.
The video, which did not have audio, shows Gitto arriving at the scene. The Nissan SUV is crashed head on into a parked car.
“And I saw a marked RMP (patrol vehicle) on the sidewalk,” Gitto recalled.
Responding officers discovered a marked NYPD SUV on the sidewalk and the suspect’s Nissan SUV crashed into a parked vehicle. Forensics investigators noted bullet holes in both the police car and the suspect’s SUV. (Google Maps)
The video shows several officers exiting their vehicles and forming a semicircle around the SUV with their guns drawn. One officer shields himself behind the driver’s side door of his marked cruiser.
Gitto recalled shouting at the defendant, “get out of the car!” and “hands up!”
He was asked if other officers were also shouting commands, but he said he couldn’t remember.
The video shows Gitto and other officers inch closer to the vehicle in lockstep, Gitto recalled seeing the suspect in the driver’s seat motionless. He said it raised concerns that he was “playing possum.”
Gitto said that as he peeked through the window, he saw a firearm that was “slide locked,” and resting between the defendant’s legs. Meaning the firearm likely has been fired until empty.
With tensions escalating, a sergeant with the 121st Precinct testified that he smashed the driver’s side window with a metal instrument, allowing officers to then drag the defendant out.
Pitt was handcuffed by officers and taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital for evaluation, according to witness testimony.
Three officers were treated for various joint and limb issues as a result of the incident, court documents stated.
Bullet holes everywhere. Defense sows doubt.
The defense has suggested the possibility that officers fired their weapons that day toward his client, while the prosecution has said there’s no evidence of that being the case.
Crime scene photos show several bullet holes in the windshield of the defendant’s Nissan SUV. Gitto testified he saw those same bullet holes first hand at the crime scene, and that he believed they were shot outward by the defendant from behind the steering wheel, and ultimately into the police car.
“Are you an expert in gunshots?” Nir asked, and the witness replied that he was not. Nir asked the officer whether he had seen the shots being fired; the officer replied that he had not.
Defense attorney Ronald Steven Nir addresses the court prior to opening arguments Tuesday for defendant Divante Pitt.((Advance/SILive.com|Jan Somma-Hammel)
During opening statements, Nir, worked to sow doubt as to what exactly happened in those split seconds, including a crash that sent the NYPD vehicle onto a sidewalk and the defendant head on into a parked car.
He said drivers sometimes “overreact” on the roadways.
“Police officers have a very tough job … sometimes people driving on the streets overreact, sometimes police officers overreact.”
Nir also reminded the jury that the prosecution must prove “each and every element” of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
Assistant District Attorney Lisa Davis, during her opening statement, said that only one person fired a gun that day, based on evidence that includes two bullets found in the ceiling of the patrol unit, which “nearly killed three New York City Police officers.”
Separate cocaine, gun cases
In a case filed separately on Staten Island — with an incident date around the same time as the police pursuit — the defendant is charged with criminal possession of cocaine with intent to sell, court records show.
According to a criminal complaint in the attempted murder case, Pitt also has a prior conviction in which he was sentenced to six years on a gun charge.
The top charge alone in the ongoing trial, attempted murder of a police officer, carries a possible sentence of up to 25 years to life in prison. Justice Lisa Grey, who is presiding, adjourned the proceedings to Monday for ongoing witness testimony.