NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch on Wednesday announced a new police vehicle pursuit policy that she said would “make both the police and the public safer,” reforming a tactic that had been aggressively carried out under previous police leadership.

The new policy restricts police officers to pursuits only in cases where felonies and violent misdemeanors are suspected. They may no longer pursue suspects in vehicles who commit traffic infractions, violations or other non-violent offenses — as had been done previously.

The new rules also note that officers will not receive criticism or disciplinary action for terminating a pursuit for safety reasons.

As THE CITY has skyrocketed since late 2022, under the leadership of then-Chief of Patrol John Chell and with the backing of Mayor Eric Adams. 

The NYPD has repeatedly refused to provide data on the number of people killed or injured in the course of pursuits over that time period, but THE CITY has identified at least 17 deaths and more than 600 people injured.

“New York is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and our officers deserve clear guidance and smart protocols when determining whether to engage in a vehicle pursuit on our streets,” Tisch said in a statement. “The NYPD’s enforcement efforts must never put the public or the police at undue risk, and pursuits for violations and low-level crimes can be both potentially dangerous and unnecessary.”

The changes come despite Tisch’s elevation of Chell, one of the main architects of the NYPD’s aggressive vehicle pursuit policy, to chief of department.

In his prior role, Chell was unapologetic about the increase in pursuits under his watch, telling reporters in July 2023: “People thinking they can take off on us, those days are over.”

His declaration came in response to more than the previous five years combined. 

More recently, THE CITY revealed that the NYPD was averaging one collision related to a vehicle pursuit per day in 2024 through November.

That equates with 398 vehicle crashes preceded by police pursuits, resulting in at least 315 people injured.

Chell, who was promoted by Tisch to the top uniformed spot on New Year’s Eve, struck a notably different tone on Wednesday in voicing for the department’s more cautious approach.

“Our overarching objective—every minute of every day—is to keep the people of this great city safe,” said Chell. “In order to do that, we need to pursue criminals when appropriate and stay our hand when the risks to the public and to our cops outweigh the benefits. Our revised policy strikes that critical balance and will make our city safer for police and our communities.”

Chell replaced former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, who resigned in December after a subordinate raided his home as part of an investigation by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office.

Tisch said the new pursuit policy will go into effect in February, following training of all uniformed of the force.

The policy will include new requirements for supervisors and better record keeping, she said.

‘For the Rest of my Life, This Trauma’

NYPD officials revealed for the first time Wednesday that there were 2,278 vehicle pursuits in 2024, one-quarter of which resulted in a collision, injuries or property damage. 

About two-thirds of the pursuits were initiated when cars fled traffic stops, many of which would no longer qualify for a pursuit under the new policy, the officials said. 

But for two years the department has taken pains to shroud the true number and impact of vehicle pursuits, and in some cases has misled the public about the nature of the chases.

On April 5, 2023, the NYPD’s press office put out an incident sheet on a 64-year-old bicyclist in The Bronx who was struck and killed by the driver of a white pickup truck that had allegedly sped and ran a red light.  

The 163-word release makes no mention of the fact that the white pickup truck was fleeing from an attempted vehicle stop by police. It simply says that police “encountered a 64-year-old male E-Bicyclist lying on the roadway.”

But one news outlet, StreetsBlog NYC, reported that the incident might be connected to a vehicle pursuit, after discovering a FreedomNews.Tv interview of a witness who saw a marked police car closely tailing the white truck.

It wasn’t until Dec. 31, 2024 that the NYPD quietly revealed — buried on p. 67, in an appendix to the department’s most recent “Use of Force” report that was posted online — that the incident began with an attempted “vehicle stop for a traffic infraction.”

The appendix entry doesn’t name the biker, Hua Zhi Pan, whose family filed a lawsuit in June against both the truck driver and the NYPD over his death.

In June 2023, Bronx12 reported that police said 36-year-old Samuel Williams got involved in a police pursuit while riding an uned dirt bike, and that “he was driving recklessly when he collided with an unmarked cruiser” on the University Heights Bridge. 

Last month, video released by the state Attorney General’s office, which is still investigating whether the cops involved in Williams’ death should be criminally prosecuted, revealed that two unmarked police vehicles traveling in the opposite direction of Williams suddenly veered into his path — causing a collision that sent him flying into the air.  Williams died of his injuries the next day. 

In August 2023, cops described the police pursuit of Ansel Goolcharan, which started on Manhattan’s Lower East side and concluded with the 42-year-old driver’s arrest at 23rd Street and Third Avenue, as “brief.” 

But that was disputed by witnesses, who saw a line of police cars hastily chasing after Goolcharan on West 15th Street at a time when police claim they lost sight of the fleeing driver, and is being challenged in a lawsuit filed in October on behalf of a 66-year-old woman who was struck and seriously injured when Goolcharan’s Honda Odyssey hopped the sidewalk near the start of the chase.

Attorney Andrew Carboy notes in the lawsuit that the car pursuit “degenerated into chaos lasting over forty minutes, covering large sections of lower Manhattan and Gramercy, involving the closure of the Manhattan Bridge and the use of multiple NYPD ground and air units.” 

The filing also says the police report on the incident doesn’t mention the pursuit, instead referring to the collision with Genes as a “hit and run.”

After it all ended, police revealed it was the Honda’s license plate, not the vehicle itself, that had been reported stolen, and that had prompted the chase. 

Genes, a public school teacher who lives on Roosevelt Island, said she was walking to meet her husband for dinner after summer school that day when she was struck by the car from behind.

She said she woke up in the hospital following surgery on her broken arm, which left a 7-inch scar, with 40 stitches on her forehead and multiple broken toes.

Genes said she still can’t fathom why her life was put at risk over a stolen license plate.

“I couldn’t understand how a person like me walking on the sidewalk could be dead in a second for no justification,” she told THE CITY. “I think this I will carry for the rest of my life, this trauma of walking in New York City.” 

Additional reporting by Haidee Chu.