DNA Info: “Video Shows Police Car Without Its Lights On Before Student is Struck”

NEW YORK, Aug 21 — The family of a Japanese student who was killed by a New York Police Department (NYPD) cruiser last year has released new footage that suggests the police may have tried mislead people and suppress footage of the incident.

Previously, the NYPD had stated that officer Darren Ilardi and his partner, officer Carman, were responding to a domestic violence call and therefore had turned on the cruiser’s emergency lights and siren, when Ilardi hit 24-year-old Ryo Oyamada at around 12:40 am on February 21, 2013.

Lawyer Steve Vaccaro, who represents Oyamada’s family, obtained surveillance footage from NYCHA through a Freedom of Information Law request, which suggests otherwise.

The CCTV footage first shows 24-year-old Oyamada walking east on 40th Avenue towards 10th street.

On another camera, Ilardi’s cruiser drives west on 40th Avenue towards Oyamada. Pausing the video allows one to see that the emergency lights were not on.

– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/new-footage-shows-police-may-have-covered-up-pedestrian-tragedy-video#sthash.3LJsiQB8.dpuf

NEW YORK, Aug 21 — The family of a Japanese student who was killed by a New York Police Department (NYPD) cruiser last year has released new footage that suggests the police may have tried mislead people and suppress footage of the incident.

Previously, the NYPD had stated that officer Darren Ilardi and his partner, officer Carman, were responding to a domestic violence call and therefore had turned on the cruiser’s emergency lights and siren, when Ilardi hit 24-year-old Ryo Oyamada at around 12:40 am on February 21, 2013.

Lawyer Steve Vaccaro, who represents Oyamada’s family, obtained surveillance footage from NYCHA through a Freedom of Information Law request, which suggests otherwise.

The CCTV footage first shows 24-year-old Oyamada walking east on 40th Avenue towards 10th street.

On another camera, Ilardi’s cruiser drives west on 40th Avenue towards Oyamada. Pausing the video allows one to see that the emergency lights were not on.

– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/new-footage-shows-police-may-have-covered-up-pedestrian-tragedy-video#sthash.3LJsiQB8.dpuf

The family of a Japanese student who was killed by a New York Police Department (NYPD) cruiser last year has released new footage that suggests the police may have tried mislead people and suppress footage of the incident. – See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/new-footage-shows-police-may-have-covered-up-pedestrian-tragedy-video#sthash.3LJsiQB8.dpuf

The family of a Japanese student who was killed by a New York Police Department (NYPD) cruiser last year has released new footage that suggests the police may have tried mislead people and suppress footage of the incident. – See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/new-footage-shows-police-may-have-covered-up-pedestrian-tragedy-video#sthash.3LJsiQB8.dpuf
Lawyer Steve Vaccaro, who represents Oyamada’s family, obtained surveillance footage from NYCHA through a Freedom of Information Law request, which suggests otherwise. – See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/new-footage-shows-police-may-have-covered-up-pedestrian-tragedy-video#sthash.3LJsiQB8.dpuf

DNAinfo covers the release of video showing vehicle NYPD claimed had it’s emergency lights on when it struck Ryo Oyamada.

QUEENSBRIDGE — A newly released video shows an NYPD patrol car without its emergency lights on in the moments before a Japanese student was struck and killed in Queensbridge last year.

But the attorney for Ryo Oyamada, says that a key piece of the New York City Housing Authority surveillance video, showing the aftermath of the crash, is missing.

While Vaccaro said he has not “definitively confirmed” that the police car depicted in the first video is the one that struck Oyamada, he thinks “it’s a likely candidate.”

“We can’t confirm it, because the video has been cut off,” he said. “Had an additional 10 seconds of video been extracted during the course of the investigation, we think it would have shown the scene of the crash.”

Vaccaro said the camera footage in the minutes before the incident “clearly captures within its field of vision the scene of the crash.”

“Yet the person who made the extract for the NYPD, which ended up becoming the only thing preserved by NYCHA, decided not to capture or extract images showing the immediate aftermath of the crash,” he said.  “Why they did that, I don’t understand.”

Click here for the full report.