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NYC driver 'Squeeze.Benz' - who outran police in YouTube videos - gets arrested
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published May 23, 2024
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By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published May 23, 2024
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A daredevil teen driver who posted viral videos speeding through New York City and New Jersey streets while escaping police has been arrested and now faces a slew of charges in two states.
Antonio Ginestri, 19, allegedly posted videos to more than 1 million followers on Instagram and YouTube under the handle “Squeeze.Benz.” The footage shot from the car's front and rear showed the driver racing in a powerful BMW, Lamborghini SUV and other muscle cars, recklessly swerving through traffic on Manhattan roads at speeds topping 130 mph. Some videos showed him easily outrunning police cruisers with lights and sirens flashing.
“One of the most prolific street racers in NYC can no longer treat the Big Apple like the Indy 500,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The Newark Police Department said in a statement that it began investigating Ginestri after he did donuts around an occupied police SUV in a black BMW with no license plates at 1:15 a.m. on April 11. Ginestri easily outraced cops, who called off the pursuit due to the danger, according to the statement. Newark investigators soon found video of the episode, titled “Squeeze vs. Newark,” as well as other examples of him “attempting to antagonize police,” police said.
Newark police contacted the NYPD. The break in the case apparently came last week, when NYPD cops arrested Ginestri for an assault inside a Long Island City deli, a department spokesperson confirmed. It wasn’t immediately clear how authorities tied Ginestri to the Squeeze.Benz account.
“Newark is not a playground for daredevil drivers seeking social media likes,” Newark Police Chief Emanuel Miranda said in a statement. “We will not tolerate senseless, reckless driving on Newark streets.”
Ginestri, of Flushing, Queens, also faces charges of employing a juvenile in the commission of a crime, theft and conspiracy in Fairfield, New Jersey, though a police spokesperson there declined to share details.
Ginestri’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Records indicate he pleaded not guilty to the assault charge. The Queens District Attorney's office said Ginestri had pleaded guilty in March to possession of a stolen Yamaha motorcycle and faced an order to pay $3,000 in restitution.
Daredevil driving became a popular social media trend during the pandemic, when many roads were empty. In one notorious incident in 2022, a 22-year-old doing doughnuts in an Infiniti at an impromptu meetup in Lower Manhattan lost control and drove into a spectator filming the spectacle. The spectator was severely injured.
The Squeeze.Benz accounts feature reckless driving videos going back a year-and-a-half.
Titles include “4 Minutes of Squeeze Taking Over The FDR” and “NYPD Tried It.”
The driver, who sports racing gear and a helmet in some videos, doesn’t reveal his face.
In one Squeeze.Benz video, a YouTuber joins the driver, who is dressed in all black, at a racing meetup that begins in a College Point shopping center. "Squeeze" remains silent while his sidekick explains that the daredevil started driving at age 8, considers himself a "professional" and perhaps one of the best drivers in history. A group of friends film in the back seat as Squeeze races down a Queens highway, terrifying the YouTuber who says they’re “going over 130.”
Towards the end of the video, their car is rear-ended while they race in traffic. They then drive away from the scene.
Tagged
crime
new york city
new jersey
Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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