{"id":15772,"date":"2025-10-25T02:20:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T02:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/15772\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T02:20:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T02:20:09","slug":"retired-nypd-chief-john-chell-approved-for-295k-annual-disability-pension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/15772\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired NYPD Chief John Chell approved for $295K annual disability pension"},"content":{"rendered":"

Newly retired NYPD Chief of Department John Chell will rake in $295,000 a year from a disability pension<\/a> stemming from an incident in which he hurt his foot during a migrant operation on Randalls Island in July 2024, the Daily News has learned.<\/p>\n

Chell, who retired Oct. 8, will receive a monthly taxpayer-funded payment of $24,659.97, said New York City Police Pension Fund<\/a> General Counsel Vincent Diaz late Friday afternoon in an email. That sum works out to $295,919.64 per year, almost entirely tax free, for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n

Diaz also confirmed prior reporting by The News that the pension board approved Chell\u2019s application for a disability pension, but Diaz did not specify the injury.<\/p>\n

Under the complex pension fund rules, cops can retire with an ordinary pension, which pays 50% of their salary, mostly tax free, or an accident disability pension, which pays 75% of their salary, almost tax free, for the duration of their lives.<\/p>\n

The standard to qualify for a disability is whether the officer can still perform all the physical duties required of an officer. Much about the decision-making process remains cloaked behind confidentiality rules.<\/p>\n

Late Friday, Chell told The News he was injured after stepping into a hole covered with grass on Randalls Island during a July 28, 2024 police operation that followed two shootings linked to a migrant encampment there and a rash of stolen mopeds, scooters and e-bikes.<\/p>\n

As a result of the accident, he said he wears a brace on his right ankle and that he had been on restricted duty, though still sometimes went out in the field given his responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe system is the system. I didn\u2019t make up the system. I got hurt \u2014 the MRI doesn\u2019t lie,\u201d Chell said. \u201cI stepped right in a hole. There was no way to see it. If you\u2019ve ever done that, you know how that can feel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors considered me unable to perform. I was being guided by the doctors,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Chell noted that he purposely didn\u2019t advertise he was on restricted duty. \u201cI had to limit myself but sometimes I went out anyway because of the position (chief of department) that I had. But that was a liability to me and everyone around me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Two City Council members immediately criticized the size of the prominent, if controversial, chief\u2019s pension.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an absurd waste of taxpayer dollars,\u201d said City Councilman Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn). \u201cChief Chell has engaged in combative, harmful and unethical behavior for years. There should be an immediate review into the appropriateness of this pension.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilwoman Sandy Nurse (D-Brooklyn) added that Chell as a civil servant is entitled to his pension, but she criticized the former chief\u2019s sharp-elbowed manner. He was blasted in a city oversight report<\/a>, in one example, for using social media to attack elected officials and reporters who had questioned his NYPD policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t agree with his leadership style or generally anything he has done,\u201d Nurse said. \u201cI think he has stepped out of line and there are other investigations that could of been handled differently, but that\u2019s the cost of allowing people to fail upward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chell, a staunch ally of Adams who has also been a supporter of President Trump, joined the NYPD on Feb. 28, 1994, and rose to the agency\u2019s highest uniformed post on Jan. 1, with his promotion ceremony taking place on New Year\u2019s Eve in Times Square.<\/p>\n

\"MayorMayor Eric Adams, right, and NYPD Chief of Department John Chell attend a press conference at Police Headquarters in Manhattan, New York, on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (Gardiner Anderson \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch promoted Chell to the top uniformed spot after Jeffrey Maddrey quit as chief of department in December 2024 while under investigation for a range of misconduct, including exchanging overtime pay for sex with a subordinate.<\/p>\n

The NYPD, Adams and the offices of the presidents of various NYPD unions either could not be immediately reached or declined comment. The pension fund attorney did not reply to a follow-up question seeking information on the basis for the pension.<\/p>\n

Just 28 other retired NYPD cops are earning more annually in their pensions than Chell will earn, according to the seethroughny website.<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite his apparent injury, since retiring Chell has posted photos on social media of himself traveling across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat day at the Star- 1 Cowboy Way. Had to pump up the Boys for those Broncos,\u201d Chell wrote in an X post on Thursday<\/a>, along with photos of himself hanging out with players on the Dallas Cowboys team at their training facility in Texas. He also added hashtags to the post reading, \u201c#retirement #makingmoney.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear if Chell plans to pick up a private-sector job. It has long been rumored he\u2019s considering a job in right-wing media, and since his retirement he has posted videos of himself commenting on current events, like the city\u2019s upcoming mayoral election.<\/p>\n

Chell was replaced by Chief Michael LiPetri, who was named acting chief of department on Oct. 8.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 24, 2025 at 7:48 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Newly retired NYPD Chief of Department John Chell will rake in $295,000 a year from a disability pension…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,11,10,12,261,265],"class_list":{"0":"post-15772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-city","9":"tag-county","10":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-new-york-county","16":"tag-new-york-headlines","17":"tag-new-york-news","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-nyc-crime","20":"tag-sub-county-region"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}