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Did NYPD sidewalk chase of U-Haul in Brooklyn violate protocol? Victim’s family wants answers.
By
Gwynne Hogan
Published Feb 15, 2023
Modified Feb 15, 2023
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Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP/Shutterstock
By
Gwynne Hogan
Published Feb 15, 2023
Modified Feb 15, 2023
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The wife of a man in a medically induced coma – a victim of a U-Haul driver’s rampage through Brooklyn Monday – is seeking answers about what happened, and what role the NYPD played in the chase.
Nadjet Tchenar, the wife of Mohammed Zakaria Salah Rakchi, spoke to reporters on Tuesday alongside lawyers from the Cochran Firm. The Cochran Firm is conducting an investigation into the incident, according to a spokesperson.
“Why did this high-speed chase go on for so long?” said attorney Derek Sells, who is representing Rakchi’s family.
Mohammed Zakaria Salah Rakchi suffered significant injuries after he was struck by the driver of the U-Haul vehicle.
The Cochran Firm
Rakchi was one of eight people hit by the U-Haul driver who careened across Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, and Dyker Heights for at least 48 minutes on Monday morning. Hours after the attack, video emerged of the chase showing a police cruiser driving onto a crowded sidewalk in pursuit of the truck, forcing pedestrians to dive out of the way.
“At no point in time is a police cruiser supposed to be driving down a sidewalk in a business district in the middle of the day where people could easily be run down,” Sells said.
Sells said he thought the video captured a clear violation of NYPD patrol guide, which cautions strongly against police cars driving on the sidewalk during a pursuit.
Rakchi is currently in a medically-induced coma.
The Cochran Firm
While the NYPD patrol guide doesn’t explicitly forbid officers from driving on the sidewalk, it states that a pursuit should end when the risks to the public “outweigh the danger to the community if suspect is not immediately apprehended.”
When she was asked about the police cruiser jumping onto the sidewalk earlier in the week, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said that was part of the ongoing investigation and praised the officers for responding “at a moment’s notice.”
A spokesperson for the NYPD didn’t return a request for additional comment right away.
On Tuesday afternoon, police released some preliminary body camera footage of an officer escorting children from the street and into their school, but not of the chase itself.
At a press conference, Tchenar told reporters she was devastated.
“I don’t have words to describe my feelings now,” she said. She described her husband as a good person, who worked as a delivery bike driver to support her and their two young children. He was running errands on Monday morning at the time he was hit, according to Ryan Julison, a spokesperson for the Cochran Firm.
Sells, the family's attorney, said doctors were hoping to pull Rakchi out of the medically induced coma once he’d recovered enough.
“Hopefully with each passing day he will gain strength,” Sells said.
Police officials said they believed 62-year-old Weng Sor, the man charged with murder and attempted murder for the incident, was suffering from a mental health crisis, was off his prescribed medication, and saw some sort of “invisible object” come toward his car.
Another man died on Monday evening from the injuries he sustained in the crash.
YiJie Ye died Monday evening from the injuries he sustained in the crash.
Authorities identified him as YiJie Ye, 44, a resident of Gravesend. In a GoFundMe campaign verified by the company, Ye's cousin Jessy Chen described him as a “kind man” who was employed as a food delivery worker.
“He was a single dad who worked day and night and tried his best to raise his three teenagers, twin boys and a daughter,” Chen wrote. “All our family members are heartbroken by his death. Rest in peace, cousin Ye, you will always be remembered.”
This story has been updated with additional information and comment from Derek Sells.
Tagged
public safety
brooklyn
Gwynne Hogan
Gwynne Hogan is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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