A New York Metropolis man has been charged with staging a automotive accident for insurance coverage fraud functions final month in a case that obtained broad publicity after the sufferer shared dashboard digicam footage of the crash, authorities introduced Friday.
Prosecutors say the 28-year-old Brooklyn man was in a automotive whose driver lower off one other automotive in Queens after which deliberately backed into the car.
“The defendant and others allegedly staged a crash on a busy freeway and rammed an unsuspecting driver with their car after they forcibly stopped her within the left lane of the Belt Parkway,” Queens District Lawyer Melinda Katz mentioned in a information launch. “Numerous lives had been jeopardized resulting from this extremely reckless conduct.”
In line with prosecutors, Asphia Natasha was driving north on the Belt Parkway on Oct. 16 when a silver Honda Civic lower in entrance of her automotive and stopped.
Natasha braked to keep away from a collision and the Honda’s driver backed into her automotive, damaging each autos, prosecutors mentioned.
The occupants of the Honda held up what gave the impression to be a plastic tarp that partly obscured Natasha’s view contained in the Honda, and the occupants of the Honda switched seats inside the automotive, Katz mentioned.
Natasha’s dashboard digicam captured the collision, and the video has obtained tens of millions of views on TikTok.
4 folks exited the automotive after the crash. The 28-year-old man was arrested Thursday after arriving in New York on a flight from Ecuador, Katz mentioned. Prosecutors consider he was a backseat passenger within the Honda on the time of the crash. The opposite three individuals who had been within the automotive are nonetheless being sought.
The person was arraigned on costs together with staging a motorcar accident, felony mischief, reckless endangerment and insurance coverage fraud. He pleaded not responsible. A message looking for remark was left together with his lawyer.
