Viral Queens video results in insurance coverage fraud arrest – NBC New York
A New York Metropolis man has been charged with staging a automobile accident for insurance coverage fraud functions final month in a case that acquired large publicity after the sufferer shared dashboard digital camera footage of the crash, authorities introduced Friday.
Prosecutors say the 28-year-old Brooklyn man was in a automobile whose driver lower off one other automobile 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 have been jeopardized on account of this extremely reckless conduct.”
In accordance with prosecutors, Asphia Natasha was driving north on the Belt Parkway on Oct. 16 when a silver Honda Civic lower in entrance of her automobile and stopped.
Natasha braked to keep away from a collision and the Honda’s driver backed into her automobile, damaging each automobiles, 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 automobile, Katz mentioned.
Natasha’s dashboard digital camera captured the collision, and the video has acquired hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok.
4 individuals exited the automobile after the crash. The 28-year-old man was arrested Thursday after arriving in New York on a flight from Ecuador, Katz mentioned. Prosecutors imagine he was a backseat passenger within the Honda on the time of the crash. The opposite three individuals who have been within the automobile 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 searching for remark was left along with his legal professional.