Report: Cop Broke Girl's Legs -- & Covered It Up

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Report: Cop Broke Girl’s Legs—& Covered It Up

by Paul Bass | Jun 9, 2010 4:02 pm

(30) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Legal Writes

“Kessey”‘s police bosses told him to stop riding his motorcycle around without a license. He did anyway, sped down North Frontage Road popping wheelies, smashed into a 14-year-old girl, fled the scene—then lied about it.

That was the story told in a police statement filed in state court Wednesday.

NHPD It tells the story of how rookie police officer Marquis “Kessey” Morrison (pictured) allegedly shattered the legs of a teenaged girl in a motorcycle accident six weeks ago—and how investigators pieced together a story that led him eventually to confess.

Police arrested Morrison, who’s 24, last Friday. They charged him with reckless driving, felony evading responsibility, operating a motorcycle without a license, operating a motor vehicle without the minimum insurance, operating an unregistered motor vehicle, reckless endangerment in the first degree, interfering with police, and tampering with or fabricating evidence.

He’s free on a $100,000 bond. He’s scheduled to appear in court next Tuesday. Meanwhile, the police department has placed him on unpaid administrative leave; Chief Frank Limon is recommending he be fired.

The accident left 14-year-old Niije Kelly with broken legs. She’s confined to a wheelchair; in a WTNH interview last week, her mom said she’s hoping Niije can walk again, while the girl said she’s determined to make it to an upcoming prom. But her life has been at least temporarily shattered.

Police had initial promising clues leading to her hit-and-run assailant, but it took a while to follow the trail to Morrison

Here’s what happened, according to an affidavit prepared by Sgt. Rose Turney and now publicly available in Morrison’s court file:

Police responded to the crash scene at the intersection of North Frontage and Sherman Avenue around 9 p.m. on April 30. They found a piece of a yellow 2005 Suzuki GSXR 1000 at the scene.

They also found Niije with both legs broken and had her transported to Yale-New Haven, then later to a rehabilitation center. Niije told police she’d been crossing Sherman on foot when two motorcyclists came through the intersection and one hit her. “Neither the victim nor her three friends could identify the motorcycles or the operators,” according to Turney’s report.

Police found a driver who had been “directly behind” the cyclists and reported they’d been “doing wheelies” and apparently racing at “excessive speed.” The witness said the driver of a yellow cycle hit the girl, then “continued speeding from the scene.” Another driver reported seeing the two cyclists racing down the road and through the red light at Sherman, where the girl was hit by the driver of the yellow motorcycle.

Three days later, on May 3, an anonymous “concerned citizen” called in a tip: The “person who struck the child was a current New Haven police officer [who] broke his hand during the collision.”

The police injury log showed that Officer Morrison had reported a broken right hand on May 2. “Morrison said the injury occurred when a freezer door closed on his hand.” Turney’s report notes that the injury “would be consistent with the direction the victim was walking (south) and the direction of the motorcycle (west). Contact would be made with the right side of the motorcycle.”

A week after the anonymous tip, a 36-year-old man told police he’d been riding a motorcycle in the area near the scene on the night of the accident and had stopped to chat with Morrison, whom he “knows by the street name of ‘Kessey,’” He said he saw Kessey speed away beside a second cyclist; soon after he saw the emergency vehicles arrive.

Meanwhile, recent police training academy classmates told Turney that Morrison had been riding his motorcycle to class—despite being warned not to.

Turney and Lt. Petisia Adger interviewed Morrison twice. The first time, on May 27, he denied ever riding on public roads, since he had no license. Asked about what his classmates said, he responded, “They lied.”

He changed his story the next day, according to the affidavit. He admitted hitting Niije and speeding toward the intersection. “He said that when the light turned green, for his side, he tried to avoid the children in the roadway but everything happened so quickly that, in spite of his maneuvers, he struck the girl. Morrison was driving an unregistered motorcycle and is not licensed to operate a motorcycle. He panicked and fled the scene.”

With a search warrant, police recovered his yellow and black Suzuki from Morrison’s garage, where he’d stashed it the night of the accident.

Click here to read and watch WTNH’s interview with Niije and her family. “Both of Kelly’s legs were shattered along with her hand. Now she has rods, pins and a screw in both legs,” the station reported. “‘I had to get four surgeries, three blood transfusions and I had to get a skin graft where they took skin from here to put down here because it was so bad. ... My leg was basically crushed. It’s not fair that it happened to me!”

Comments

posted by: ESON on June 9, 2010 4:31pm

HE SHOULD BR FIRED FOR LEAVING THE SCENE OF AND ACCIDENT. HE LEFT A CHILD LAYING IN THE STREET TO DIE. HE SHOULD NOT BE A POLICE OFFICER. POLOICE OFFICER ARE HELD TO A HIRE STANDARD AND OFFICER MORRISON IAM SORRY MR. MORRISON IS BACK ON THE STREET.

posted by: hrsn on June 9, 2010 4:31pm

How did this even get to be a cop?? They knew in the Police Academy that he was riding illegally??
What about background checks, psychological profiles, and other suitability testing??

posted by: Jon Doe on June 9, 2010 5:18pm

Kessey”‘s police bosses told him to stop riding his motorcycle around without a license.

So let me get this straight Kessey’s Police Boss Knew he was drive illegally and Looked the other way? Why wasn’t he given a ticket and the bike towed away. This young man is part of what the problem is in New Haven with the cars, bikes and scooter on our streets.

And to Have a street nickname. come on where is the police dept finding these guys at.

posted by: anon on June 9, 2010 5:33pm

heinous. 10 years imprisonment with no chance of parole should be the minimum penalty.

posted by: DKR on June 9, 2010 5:43pm

yet again,..another black eye and disgrace to the new haven police dept, and the administration in said city. “kessey”,..should indeed be fired and NEVER ALLOWED to put a badge on ever again,.....ANYWEHRE..!!! he ... left a human life that he injured knowing he wasn’t supposed to be riding the motorcycle. he has embarrassed police officers all across this great country of ours…. good luck to you kelly in your recovery

posted by: Here we go on June 9, 2010 7:00pm

How about the NHPD find out what boss told him not to ride the motorcycle without a license and suspend him for not acting upon this information. This kid was in the academy and is subject to getting fired for violating the law. If they acted properly, this incident might never had occurred.

posted by: kamb on June 9, 2010 9:32pm

DKR and Here We Go,
Good statements and points. The NHPD Supervisor should be named, asked why he didnt take enforcement actions against a recruit who is breaking the law, and the boss should be reprimanded. Chief Limon should fire this Morrison and discipline the NHPD Supervisor. ZERO Tolerance.

As far as psychological testing and backrounds…. can that really predict this type of instant-bad judgement behavior? I dont think so. His file is public record. The NH Independant should get his file and post it to see if he had previous lawless behavior.

The majority of cops at the NHPD are excellent. So when something like this happens, they should get rid of this ...

posted by: Meg McG on June 9, 2010 9:32pm

I agree! Whatever boss of his knew about him ILLEGALLY driving should face the same punishment as this guy. What are cops for if they can’t obey the law themselves?!

posted by: New Haven on June 9, 2010 9:48pm

But this is New Haven and he probably will get his job back just like Bandy. The chief wants him fired, but Destefano administration will step in and give it back to him next year. I’m sick of this city.!
Who is running against King Johnny next year?

posted by: pissed on June 10, 2010 2:35am

agreed. This is sickening that my taxes pay for this… There is nothing professional about this city.

posted by: STYLENE on June 10, 2010 7:21am

he was told not to ride his motorcycle!! he did it anyway!! he doesn’t have a license for it, he did it anyway!! yes fire him and bring him up on charges!! have him make restitution to the child. my heart goes out to the child who life is now forever changed.

SIDEBAR: IS 24 YEARS OLD TOO YOUNG TO BE A POLICE OFFICER? REMEMBER BANDY?

posted by: robn on June 10, 2010 8:01am

Riding without a license; riding dangerously; leaving a 14 year old girl to die; concealing evidence?...this kind of behavior doesn’t just crop up overnight….. How could the Police Academy not have identified this individual as a potential problem.

Head should roll at the Academy.

posted by: bumphus on June 10, 2010 8:56am

Any officer caught lying and covering up should immediately be promoted to Detective and transferred to narcotics…

posted by: stylene on June 10, 2010 9:35am

@bumphus: too funny!! sad, but true. too funny. im shocked that he didn’t make detective already. lol

posted by: Chicwa on June 10, 2010 9:50am

This guy does not just need to be fired, he need to be in prison. ...
Decent and reasonable people do not “panic and flee the scene” of an accident where someone is critically injured. They just don’t.

Is it safe to assume that Kessey and Bandy are just a sample of the kinds of officers graduating from the police academy? If you believe in statistics, then you could be forgiven for thinking that there must be more graduates like these guys. Perhaps others who exhibit the same kind of reckless behavior and disregard for the laws they are meant to enforce and uphold, but who have not been stupid or unfortunate enough to get caught.

I believe in statistics, and therefore believe that there must be other graduates of this ilk, out there with badges and guns, riding in patrol cars. I only hope that these cowboys are cops long enough to learn from real cops, who sadly must share in the shame that this casts on the whole department.

posted by: anon on June 10, 2010 9:59am

“Meanwhile, recent police training academy classmates told Turney that Morrison had been riding his motorcycle to class—despite being warned not to.”
How can a Police Academy recruit remain enrolled in the Academy after disobeying orders? How could he graduate and get a job with the NH Police Dept. if he did not follow orders? What is going on?

posted by: Anon on June 10, 2010 10:33am

It’s weird that at the academy where life is so regimented and you can get in trouble for being a minute late they kept looking the other way on illegal motorcycle riding.

No Insurance:

Taxpayers do realize that without any insurance the victim’s family will be forced to depend now on suing the city for failing to to treat this guy like other illegal motorists are treated and the city’s insurance carrier will either have to pay up or beat them in court.

Either way, we as a community pay. We either pay through insurance or, if the city escapes liability, we pay by having to see this girl, our neighbor, suffer without compensation for what the latest notorious city employee subjected her to.

posted by: Anon on June 10, 2010 10:41am

We are two for two so far, Bandy and Morrison both thinking that the badge meant a license to do things others can’t.

Bandy flashed his badge to intimidate his victims and Morrison learned that as a recruit, instead of a ticket and a tow, he could get what he obviously figured was an empty warning.

(For a group of people totally intolerant of lawbreaking in the community, cops sure are tolerant of it in each other)

People who become cops to gain privileges and entitlements should not be retained.

Both lied too, which suggests they will lie officially as well, and lying on arrest reports and on the stand in court (it’s called “testilying”)is the number one form of police misconduct, not police brutality.

posted by: beefair on June 10, 2010 1:36pm

Morrison is foolish if he thinks he can break the law, file for disability, go to prison and upon release collect a $90,000 pension like his predecessor Billy White, ... No doubt he will and should pay for his criminal behavior. Prayers to the little girl whose life has been permanently altered.

posted by: cop saga on June 10, 2010 3:49pm

Wow. ...To think he took off after such an accident.

I think his superiors should also be held responsible for overlooking his driving without a license.

posted by: anon on June 10, 2010 4:48pm

This man, with a loaded gun on him, could have been arresting us at a stoplight. Bandy can still do it. What is the Police Dept. thinking?

posted by: Kyle on June 10, 2010 4:59pm

@ Jon Doe, very much in agreement with your statement, although the suggestion that “Kessey” is a “street name” seems to have implications that aren’t really germane to this situation. It’s no different from calling a William “Bill” or James “Jay” as a nickname. Frankly, the man’s name could be Thurston B. Howell, IV, and it would neither mitigate nor exacerbate the gross negligence and lack of reason on his part. Such shortcomings of judgment are not exclusive to any group, street or otherwise. This entire situation reads like a scene from Bonfire of the Vanities, sadly.

posted by: Mike on June 12, 2010 8:37am

Limon “thinks” he should be fired? WTF???

posted by: the few the proud on June 12, 2010 3:01pm

check with human resources and the board of police commissioners they determine whether or not to follow the advice of the officers doing the background checks in the cases of bandy and morrison they did not listen put blame where it belongs. as a member of the nhpd i have no problem getting rid of poor excuses for police officers it is better to have 15 great canidates in the academy then add 30 not so great. quality over quantity ladies and gentlemen

posted by: anthony on June 12, 2010 9:14pm

Surfing and just read this story…very bothersome…..my instincts say some supervisors must have protected this cop for whatever reason….I don’t know much about the neighborhoods..but if a young police recruit is known by his “street” name, and not the name given by his parents….WOW! Who recommended this guy get hired??? Bells and whistles??? Da? Is this what they do in Chicago??

posted by: anon on June 12, 2010 11:10pm

let it be known that there are several background checks on candidates for the police academy and the officer who conducts the background documents their findings and makes their suggestions whether a candidate is a qualified candidate or not. but the suggestions carry no weight because the director of human resources (Scott Nable)over rides the decision. there were three recommended by background officers not to be hired (Morrison was included) and they were all hired. Its a shame that the background officers findings carry no weight. this how the bad apples slip into the new haven police department.
the academy officer failed to act in their duty when they discovered Morrison had no license and should be removed from their position. shame shame shame!!!! Bandy and Morrison are a disgrace along with the Mayor who allows this to happen.

posted by: Aquarius on June 13, 2010 1:19pm

Doesn’t the police department do a thorough background check on their candidates. Why were the rookies who have been arrested even accepted into the Academy in the first place? Criminals monitoring criminals is NOT what is needed. We need to start with the most ethical and recommended people we can find. If you can’t find them the first try, keep trying police departments.

posted by: Anon on June 14, 2010 12:39pm

Aquarius, I am sick and tired of people who treat arrests and convictions as if they are the same thing. By definition an arrest record is NOT a criminal record.

This officer is a disgrace and you have to wonder what kind of background check they did, but all kinds of arrests happen on the accusation of one person, on their word with no other evidence and they are thrown out in court a lot.

So an arrest should not be used the way you propose.

Just get it right

posted by: Aquarius on June 14, 2010 4:49pm

Well ... I don’t want people who have been arrested or have been criminals to be on my police force. They need to do a better background check before they even get an interview. Also, I am glad that the Police Commissioners are expelling the police who have been arrested. New Haven has enough criminals without having potential ones or actual ones on the force.

posted by: anon on June 14, 2010 7:20pm

Aquarius,
Read carefully what another anon wrote. I quote below.
“let it be known that there are several background checks on candidates for the police academy and the officer who conducts the background documents their findings and makes their suggestions whether a candidate is a qualified candidate or not. but the suggestions carry no weight because the director of human resources (Scott Nable)over rides the decision. there were three recommended by background officers not to be hired (Morrison was included) and they were all hired.”
This seems to be the problem, Director of Human Resources and whoever is directing the director.

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