Newly retired NYPD Chief of Department John Chell will rake in $295,000 a year from a disability pension stemming from an incident where he hurt his foot during a migrant operation on Randalls Island in July 2024, the Daily News has learned.
Chell, who retired Oct. 8, will receive a monthly payment of $24,659.97, said New York City Police Pension Fund General Counsel Vincent Diaz late Friday afternoon in an email. That sum works out to $295,919.64 per year, almost entirely tax free, for the rest of his life.
Diaz also confirmed prior reporting by The News that the pension board approved Chell’s application for a disability pension, but Diaz did not specify the injury.
Under the complex pension fund rules, cops can retire with an ordinary pension, which pays 50% of their salary, mostly tax free, or an accident disability pension, which pays 75% of their salary, almost tax free, for the duration of their lives.
The standard to qualify for a disability is whether the officer can still perform all the physical duties required of an officer. Much about the decision-making process remains cloaked behind confidentiality rules.
Late Friday, Chell told The News he was injured after stepping into a hole covered with grass on Randalls Island during a July 28, 2024, police operation that followed two shootings linked to a migrant encampment there and a rash of stolen mopeds, scooters and e-bikes.
As a result of the accident, he said he wears a brace on his right ankle and that he had been on restricted duty, though still sometimes went out in the field given his responsibilities.
“The system is the system. I didn’t make up the system. I got hurt — the MRI doesn’t lie,” Chell said. “I stepped right in a hole. There was no way to see it. If you’ve ever done that, you know how that can feel.
“The doctors considered me unable to perform. I was being guided by the doctors,” he added.
Chell noted that he purposely didn’t advertise he was on restricted duty: “I had to limit myself but sometimes I went out anyway because of the position (chief of department) that I had. But that was a liability to me and everyone around me,” he said.
Two City Council members immediately criticized the size of the prominent, if controversial, chief’s pension.
“This is an absurd waste of taxpayer dollars,” said City Councilman Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn). “Chief Chell has engaged in combative, harmful and unethical behavior for years. There should be an immediate review into the appropriateness of this pension.”
Councilwoman Sandy Nurse (D-Brooklyn) added that Chell as a civil servant is entitled to his pension, but she criticized the former chief’s sharp-elbowed manner. He was blasted in a city oversight report, in one example, for using social media to attack elected officials and reporters who had questioned his NYPD policies.
“I don’t agree with his leadership style or generally anything he has done,” Nurse said. “I think he has stepped out of line and there are other investigations that could of been handled differently, but that’s the cost of allowing people to fail upward.”
Chell, a staunch ally of Adams who has also been a supporter of President Trump, joined the NYPD on Feb. 28, 1994, and rose to the agency’s highest uniformed post on Jan. 1, with his promotion ceremony taking place on New Year’s Eve in Times Square.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch promoted Chell to the top uniformed spot after Jeffrey Maddrey quit as chief of department in December 2024 while under investigation for a range of misconduct, including exchanging overtime pay for sex with a subordinate.
The NYPD, Mayor Adams, and the offices of the presidents of various NYPD unions either could not be immediately reached or declined comment. The pension fund attorney did not reply to a follow-up question seeking information on the basis for the pension.
Just 28 other retired NYPD cops are earning more annually in their pensions than Chell will earn, according to the seethroughny website.
Despite his apparent injury, since retiring Chell has posted photos on social media of himself traveling across the country.
“Great day at the Star- 1 Cowboy Way. Had to pump up the Boys for those Broncos,” Chell wrote in an X post on Thursday, along with photos of himself hanging out with players on the Dallas Cowboys team at their training facility in Texas. He also added hashtags to the post reading, “#retirement #makingmoney.”
It’s unclear if Chell plans to pick up a private-sector job. It has long been rumored he’s considering a job in right-wing media, and since his retirement he has posted videos of himself commenting on current events, like the city’s upcoming mayoral election.
Chell was replaced by Chief Michael LiPetri, who was named acting chief of department on Oct. 8.
