NYPD: Harry and Meghan were ‘recklessly’chased by paparazzi through New York

[pipsfromthefuture]

Apparently there is enough to arrest two individuals as well.

"Paparazzi did chase Prince Harry and Meghan Markle “recklessly” through New York last year, police have confirmed.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex said at the time that they and Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland narrowly avoided a “catastrophic” crash while being pursued by paparazzi after leaving the Women of Vision Awards at Manhattan’s Ziegfeld Ballroom on 16 May. [...]

However, in a hearing at the High Court on Wednesday, a judge revealed New York City Police did investigate the car chase and found paparazzi did display “persistently dangerous and unacceptable behaviour”.

"Investigation confirms Harry, Meghan, Doria were recklessly endangered in NY

Harry has been insistent someone be arrested

'Course he has 😂

I've never defended the paparazzi, their behaviour is appalling and borderline criminal. Frankly I encourage the NYPD to make arrests if evidence is there.

I've always found it surprising that in the city that never sleeps, and in the age of camera phones that footage has never emerged of all of the dangerous behaviour from that night. The only footage that came out showed a stationery taxi stuck behind a bin lorry with a couple of photographers next to it.

The taxi driver gave an interview saying the situation was weird but not (in his opinion) unsafe, or a chase.

Frankly I'm bewildered by H&Ms security - all they needed to do was drive into an upscale hotels underground carpark, and wait in the hotel until the paps left. Someone made unsafe, unprofessional decisions that night.

And as for where they were staying - it was well known where they were staying as they'd stayed there before - and again, it has high level security and underground parking - so paps couldn't get photos. If anything, it just drew attention to where they were staying - photos of the building were all over SM the next day.

Great points 👏

I haven’t seen anyone defend the paps so goodness knows why that kept getting trotted out. And agree, if there is evidence of law breaking they should arrest. Apparently other police sources have said that isn’t strictly true anyway. Maybe the NYPD rapped the security teams, and by extension, Harry’s knuckles too. The last minute letter only shows part of the story. It wasn’t the paps acting in a vacuum. There was no need to involve the cab driver or ignore the NYPDs advice about stopping at a location to throw them off. Or to make their movements so public. And interesting it just so happens to be used as evidence to justify asking for more money. And that Harry’s case was built on saying he’s at even more risk than Diana ever was, and just so happens to have a pap chase story to share with the judge to make his point. Something that hadn’t happened before or since, thank
godoness. They’ve now managed to tighten up their ops anyway. Strange paid professionals couldn’t have executed it perfectly from the off. The cab driver was there, his testimony has weight. He hasn’t confirmed a high speed chase and nor has the NYPD’s letter. Catastrophic and inappropriate are worlds apart. No one denies it happened, they’ve questioned how much has been exaggerated, and how much of it was down to Harry’s own poor decisions. And how it’s ever so convenient timing wise, what with the trial and what the case was built on.

Excellent post @jötunnn ! 👏

The cab driver was there, his testimony has weight. He hasn’t confirmed a high speed chase and nor has the NYPD’s letter. Catastrophic and inappropriate are worlds apart..

Once again - H&M did not say that there was a high speed chase. They said it was near catastrophic. I will ask again - how would you describe the actions of paparazzi driving through red lights, driving on the pavement and occasionally driving at speed (as the paparazzi themselves admitted to and the police confirm)?

The cab driver observed events after the 2 hours which were a different situation- they tried to pull a fast one on the paps and failed when they were boxed in by a truck. They returned to the precinct afterwards. Again - these events were all reported on and agreed by the mayor, the police and the paparazzi - you don’t even need to listen to H&M to come to the above conclusion of what happened.

The last minute letter only shows part of the story.

The letter was not provided last minute - it was provided when it was written.

@skullbabe - as I said: "I've never defended the paparazzi, their behaviour is appalling and borderline criminal. Frankly I encourage the NYPD to make arrests if evidence is there."

That's how I describe the behaviour of the paparazzi. There must surely CCTV footage of the dangerous behaviour - so arrest them!

'The couple said in a statement: "Last night, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms Ragland were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi. This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers."'

This the Sussexes statement - it was hyperbole IMO - the phrases "near catastrophic....car chase....relentless pursuit" certainly imply high speed.

The other drivers involved and pedestrians must surely have made statements - so arrests should be made.

And I stand by my pov that H&Ms security were unprofessional and incompetent - and were a major contributing factor in the "car chase". It could have been ended in minutes had they just done their job. If they didn't want to drive safely straight home, then stop as the NYPD advised at an upmarket hotel who would have been more than willing to accommodate them for the 30 mins it would likely have taken to disperse the paparazzi.

@skullbabe You’ve said you don’t want to discuss this with me, I’m happy to honour that. So not sure why you’re now copying and pasting lines out of my posts, nitpicking, and taking out of context , and ignoring the general thrust of the points I’m making. My response was directed to @MrsFinkelstein . So I’ll continue to discuss with MRsFinkelstein and @jeffgoldblum (great name btw) rather than you, if you don’t mind.

The NYPD has consistently characterised the event as challenging, rather than catastrophic. They haven’t suddenly u-turned. There was some fair coverage about the event at the time (various articles in the guardian, I didn’t get carried away with the general tabloid coverage of it in the first place - maybe that’s why this to me
this isn’t dramatic new information). The reason there is the charge of exaggeration is because ultimately Harry and his cohort arrived at their destination safely and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries or arrests. Nor was there any footage confirming Harry’s more dramatic account. So yes, it was reckless and inappropriate, accidents unfortunately almost happen quite frequently on busy motorways. The key word is ‘almost’ I’m sure we’ve all experienced those near-miss moments. That’s why it’s important to be alert and agile, always. Luckily on this occasion, no one was injured. So yeah, he has exaggerated it and made it worse through his own actions. I can see why, he thought it would make his case stronger. He has his own agenda and it’s clear he was motivated by that. And I’m glad the judge also thought it wasn’t weighty enough to justify a new verdict. Even though Harry clearly did.

So much more eloquent than I 👏

I can’t understand why the whole thing went on for 2 hours and their security team didn’t manage to get a grip on the situation long before. The paparazzi sound to have broken many rules - red lights, driving over pavements etc. Why haven’t they been arrested and awaiting trial for this? They could nave mown down pedestrians, crashed into the car in front of them and caused all sorts of awful accidents for 2 whole hours!

Why did their security have them get into a cab? That sounds reckless and not at all wise. The whole thing sounds a complete shit show on everyone’s part.

This the Sussexes statement - it was hyperbole IMO - the phrases "near catastrophic....car chase....relentless pursuit" certainly imply high speed.

Once again - the paparazzi themselves have admitted to driving on the pavement, through red lights and to speeding. There is video taken by the paps themselves of them speeding down a pavement. How would you describe how they behaved? Was the event sustained and prolonged? How would you describe the red lights and the pavement driving?

They made a mistake. They know that - that is why their behaviour and movements in public have changed since. I’ve read through parts of the judgement - I was interested to see they had planned to bring the children to the UK for the events before Elizabeth died and something happened to spook them. In this context - it might be understandable why they were jumpy, and especially if the children were with them in New York, why they didn’t want to stay in another hotel, why they were keen to not let the paps know where they were and why they thought that they could shake the paps after awhile and they would eventually give up. They miscalculated.

Fair. I agree, all parties were responsible and are accountable. Interestingly enough it was that chaotic for two hours yet no injuries no arrests etc. Shit show, inappropriate and reckless.

Why did their security have them get into a cab? That sounds reckless and not at all wise. The whole thing sounds a complete shit show on everyone’s part.

They did this as a bit of misdirection- they had their car go one way and they caught the cab going the other way as a ruse to lose the paps. It would have worked but they got trapped by a truck and they got caught.

They did this as a bit of misdirection- they had their car go one way and they caught the cab going the other way as a ruse to lose the paps. It would have worked but they got trapped by a truck and they got caught.

That sounds like something you'd expect to see in a movie.
Completely unnecessary.

@StormzyinaTCup I agree with you. It’s crazy to think Harry’s security had them jump into a cab at one point, of course it backfired - even a layperson like me would know it’s an extremely bad idea. Plus the cab driver was not vetted - he could have melted under the pressure, nor was he insured to be put in that position or trained to be in it either. Yet he took it in his stride, despite the lack of training, notice, and appropriate equipment. In fact he talked down the hype about it, which again adds a certain dimension. The whole thing was bonkers, many said it at the time. It was a situation of Harry’s own making. From inception to execution. It almost seems intentional to create a certain situation. We know how strong minded Harry is, no one forced him into it. No one was hurt, luckily, hence he’s accused of hyping it with his extremely hyperbolic statement, which is worded to evoke certain reactions and paint a certain picture. Yet no injuries, that’s why the papers ridiculed him ant the time. And funny how the letter was submitted last minute, which I mentioned previously, and to my understanding this is true. It meant the defence had minimal time to compose a response. Harry is a lot better at these type of machinations than he would have us believe. Just as he was astute enough to use this event as evidence in his recent court case. Luckily the judge was astuter. Sorry tagging and quoting is confusing and now I can’t edit it.

@jötunnn The timelime of events is certainly interesting:

Prince Harry's Second Ravec challenge began 16th May 2023
NYC 'near catastrophic' car chase occurred 16th May 2023

Prince Harry's Ravec challenge began 5th December
NYPD letter dated 6th December conveniently appears and is admitted into evidence.

His lawyers do have a habit of trying to admit things at the eleventh hour, they tried in his media privacy case but on that occasion it was blocked by the judge.

Do you know that Rupert Murdoch owns the New York Post?

His media outlets in UK, States and Auz run very disparaging stories and interpretations of events regarding the Sussexs.

Extradordinary levels of confirmation bias.

Not only - the NYPost is owned by Murdoch.

Should sound a few bells but no...

In fairness I think the paps who followed them should be named.

The paps should not put the public in danger by following and forcing error on a team of people who gave them pictures 30 minutes before.

And the papers who hired them should be named and shamed.

The Sussex team did have their own security that night.

Meh - seems pretty accurate to me.

You like being illuminated by the New York Post do you?

Murdoch fan...

*In fairness I think the paps who followed them should be named.

The paps should not put the public in danger by following and forcing error on a team of people who gave them pictures 30 minutes before.

And the papers who hired them should be named and shamed.*

The Sussex' shoukd be honest about all the pap walks they pay for too. They aren't called the Carparkles for nothing.

Hardly, the paparazzi were there watching them get into the cab. There's video footage of them doing it.

Utterly stupid and reckless.

And I await the arrests of the paparazzi involved with glee.

🙄

Funny how the Murdoch media is to be believed on one hand, but not the other.

Are you disputing the reporting?
Because other (non-Murdoch media) are also reporting on this.