NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City man has been charged with staging a car accident for insurance fraud purposes last month in a case that received wide publicity after the victim shared dashboard camera footage of the crash, authorities announced Friday.
Prosecutors say the 28-year-old Brooklyn man was in a car whose driver cut off another car in Queens and then intentionally backed into the vehicle.
“The defendant and others allegedly staged a crash on a busy highway and rammed an unsuspecting driver with their vehicle after they forcibly stopped her in the left lane of the Belt Parkway,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a news release. “Countless lives were jeopardized due to this incredibly reckless conduct.”
According to prosecutors, Asphia Natasha was driving north on the Belt Parkway on Oct. 16 when a silver Honda Civic cut in front of her car and stopped.
Natasha braked to avoid a collision and the Honda’s driver backed into her car, damaging both vehicles, prosecutors said.
The occupants of the Honda held up what appeared to be a plastic tarp that partly obscured Natasha’s view inside the Honda, and the occupants of the Honda switched seats within the car, Katz said.
Natasha’s dashboard camera captured the collision, and the video has received millions of views on TikTok.
Four people exited the car after the crash. The 28-year-old man was arrested Thursday after arriving in New York on a flight from Ecuador, Katz said. Prosecutors believe he was a backseat passenger in the Honda at the time of the crash. The other three people who were in the car are still being sought.
The man was arraigned on charges including staging a motor vehicle accident, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and insurance fraud. He pleaded not guilty. A message seeking comment was left with his attorney.
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