By Betsy Scheinbart
A Brooklyn man was sentenced last week to 25 years to life in prison for the attempted murder of two Port Authority police officers in Cambria Heights in 1996.
Lenworth Brown, 43, of 796 Hegeman Ave. in Brooklyn was convicted April 27 of attempted murder in the first and second degree and criminal possession of a weapon after a month-long jury trial before State Supreme Court Justice Stanley Katz.
Katz imposed the sentence of 25 years to life in jail on June 13.
“{The] sentence is more than justified,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. “The defendant repeatedly fired at the officers in an effort to kill them.”
The shooting took place in the early morning hours of Dec. 9, 1996 after two Port Authority police officers spotted a black BMW speeding at 80 miles per hour, the DA said.
The officers, Sgt. Frank Cotignola and Sgt. Kevin Devlin, followed the car and tried to pull the driver over. He finally stopped some time later at the corner of 152nd Street and 125th Avenue, got out of the car and began to run, the DA said.
The Brooklyn man then looked over his shoulder and fired a dozen rounds at the officers, but did not hit them. Cotignola returned fire, but did not hit the gunman, the DA said.
Four days later, Lenworth Brown was arrested after paperwork belonging to him was found in the car, along with 14 bags of marijuana, police said.
