By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- Divante Pitt, 32, was convicted Monday on three counts of first-degree attempted murder and additional weapons charges for shooting at a marked NYPD vehicle during a May 2025 police pursuit in Staten Island.
- The pursuit began after officers tried to stop Pitt’s SUV for excessive window tint on Forest Avenue; it stretched about two miles over roughly five minutes.
- Prosecutors said Pitt drove his vehicle head-on toward a patrol car and fired seven shots through his own windshield, with two bullets lodging in the cruiser’s interior ceiling near the three officers inside.
- The officers suffered joint and limb injuries; none fired their weapons. Two loaded firearms, one with Pitt’s DNA, were recovered from his vehicle.
- Pitt faces up to 25 years to life in prison on the top counts and is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 19 in state Supreme Court in St. George.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A Manhattan man was convicted Monday of attempting to murder three Staten Island police officers during a high-speed pursuit last year that ended with gunfire on a Port Richmond street, according to the Staten Island Advance.
Divante Pitt, 32, was found guilty on all charges following about two days of jury deliberations, including the top three counts of first-degree attempted murder, criminal possession of two loaded firearms and second-degree reckless endangerment. The top counts each carry a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison. Justice Lisa Grey adjourned the case to Nov. 19 for sentencing in state Supreme Court in St. George.
The incident began around 7:20 p.m. on May 11, 2025, when uniformed officers in an unmarked vehicle tried to stop Pitt’s gray Nissan SUV on Forest Avenue in Mariners Harbor for excessive window tint. Prosecutors said the SUV sped off, prompting a roughly two-mile, five-minute pursuit through Port Richmond involving multiple NYPD units. The chase ended when Pitt’s vehicle crossed double yellow lines and headed toward a marked patrol car; prosecutors said Pitt fired several shots through his own windshield at the three officers inside. “Two bullets ended up on the inside ceiling, inches from the heads of those three officers,” Assistant District Attorney Lisa Davis said during opening statements.
A forensics expert testified that shell casings and bullets recovered matched Pitt’s firearm, and DNA evidence linked him to two loaded guns found in the vehicle — a Glock 27 resting on his thigh and a Taurus PT111 G2 on the passenger-side floor. Pitt did not hold a license to carry or possess a firearm in New York. The responding NYPD vehicle swerved onto a sidewalk, which an officer testified was an intentional maneuver to avoid gunfire, before Pitt’s Nissan crashed into a parked car.
Defense attorney Ronald Nir argued the placement of bullet holes in Pitt’s own windshield showed he was not shooting to kill, suggesting Pitt may have suffered a medical episode, and questioned whether his client was the only person who fired a weapon during the encounter. Prosecutors disputed that Pitt was impaired, saying body camera footage showed him “playing possum” after the crash. The three officers suffered joint and limb injuries; none discharged their weapons.
Pitt was previously convicted of a gun charge in 2017 and is separately facing an open drug possession case on Staten Island. District Attorney Michael E. McMahon said in a statement that the verdict held Pitt “fully accountable for his crimes,” adding that his “barrage of bullets thankfully missed their intended targets” but “nearly took the lives of three of New York’s Finest.”