Police chief's statement on the Costello case ruling

Warwick - The following is the statement released by Warwick Police Chief Thomas F. McGovern Jr. on Oct. 13 following the judge’s decision in the court case, Costello v. Town of Warwick: All Officials and Police Officers of the Town of Warwick remain saddened by the death of Anthony Costello Jr. on April 30, 2004. Only his family fully knows the demons, addictions, family problems and legal troubles which may have driven Mr. Costello to make the choices he did on that day. However, both an Orange County Grand Jury and Federal District Court Judge Stephen Robinson have now confirmed that the actions taken by members of the Warwick Police Department concerning the death of Mr. Costello were appropriate and fully justified under the circumstances and the law. Certain facts surrounding the unfortunate events of that day are confirmed by all the witnesses. These include the extremely reckless manner in which Mr. Costello operated his vehicle on the suburban streets of our community and his utter refusal to comply with attempts by various police agencies to bring him to a stop. All witnesses further agree that when finally forced to stop, Mr. Costello repeatedly smashed his vehicle into nearby police cars, knocking a number of officers to the ground and causing them injury. After exhausting all other means of stopping Mr. Costello from causing further injury, one shot was fired by a police officer who had never before fired his weapon at another person. Even after being shot and sprayed with pepper spray, Mr. Costello continued to struggle before being finally subdued by a Warwick Police Officer and a New York State Trooper. It is tragic that Mr. Costello refused to stop and leave his vehicle peacefully despite numerous opportunities and requests to do so. It is also tragic that he chose instead to constantly escalate the situation to the point where the police were left with no reasonable alternative but to use such drastic force. Continuing to place blame on police officers under a legal duty to protect the citizens and other officers of this town for these events serves no purpose other than to prolong this tragedy. We are hopeful that we can now close this chapter as we continue to provide professional police protection and services to our community.