On February 21, 2013 the NYPD cop hit and killed a Japanese student Ryo Oyamada while speeding through a residential neighborhood in Queensbridge, New York. Recently released videos suggest that the NYPD is lying about the fatal crash and that evidence may have been covered up.
The NYPD claimed CCTV videos proved the speeding policeman had his flashing lights engaged, but for over a year refused to release them. This all has changed after attorney Steve Vaccaro has obtained these videos from New York City Housing Authority through a Freedom of Information Law request.
24 year old Ryo Oyamada, who resided near the scene of the crash, was killed by on-duty officer Darren Ilardi in a police cruiser while crossing 40th Avenue near the intersection of 10th Street.
According to the New York Times which quoted NYPD representative, Darren Ilardi was responding to a 911 call of a knife assault and had his flashing lights on while driving down 40th Avenue. This however contradicts the accounts of eye witnesses who unanimously maintain that cruiser’s flashing lights were not turned on, that the cop only turned them on after the collision. Unsurprisingly, no first-hand witnesses were interviewed for the police report.
Security camera videos obtained by Steve Vaccaro do not show the moment of crash. At approximately 10 seconds into Camera 2′s footage, Ryo Oyamada can be seen walking west on 40th Avenue. The camera follows him. At 1:35 the headlights of an NYPD cruiser allegedly driven by Darren Ilardi appear in the upper left-hand corner of Camera 1. Ryo Oyamada was killed on the next block. Conveniently, the footage provided by NYCHA ends with the NYPD cruiser passing out of frame, although previously shown sweeping demonstrates that this camera’s view covered the spot where Ryo Oyamada was killed.
Through careful frame by frame analysis it can be determined that the cruiser’s flashing lights were not on – which is consistent with eye witness accounts, although it contradicts the police report.
The emergency lights were then suddenly turned on and can be observed at the 1:45 mark of Camera 1. This again corresponds to eye witness statements that Officer Darren Ilardi only turned on his flashing lights after hitting Ryo Oyamada.
Radio transcripts and other evidence provided by the City suggest that Officer Darren Ilardi was not assigned to the 911 knife disturbance, because two other officers had already been on the way. Radio transcripts also prove that Ilardi did he tell anyone he was responding to an emergency.
Attorney Steve Vaccaro said in a statement that:
The videos were received in highly edited form and have time-stamps that are likely incorrect, we believe that, at a minimum, these videos cast doubt on the public statements of the New York Police Department to the effect that the vehicle that struck Ryo Oyamada had its emergency lights activated.
The Oyamada family lawsuit alleges that the NYPD purposefully destroyed evidence, failed to properly investigate the crash, and engaged in a “cover-up.” Officers responding to the scene dispersed all eyewitnesses, failed to measure skid marks, and did not check Ilardi’s cell phone records to determine if he was using his phone when he struck Ryo Oyamada. Court filings also suggest that Officer Ilardi had a poor driving record, and that the NYPD had failed to retrain or discipline him for it.
First video was filmed by an eye witness. It’s full of “these niggas killed the nigga in my hood, nigga…” The black man talked ghetto while recording, but if I were hit and killed by a cop, I’d love for him to be there. He spoke what needed to be said and took no shit from no civilian killer. That dude is awesome:
And these are the CCTV videos obtained by attorney Steve Vaccaro. Not much to see there cause apparently, providing unedited videos would spoil the cover up:
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