Mario Diaz of WPIX11, the reporter first on the scene the night Ryo Oyamada was killed, pieces together all the evidence of the NYPD cover-up in this video report. The Oyamada family chose Steve Vaccaro to represent them.
QUEENSBRIDGE, Queens (PIX11) – New video is putting the official story of an NYPD officer in question after Japanese student Ryo Oyamada was struck and killed by a patrol car in 2013.
The family of Oyamada, half-a-world away in Japan, continue to fight for the truth as to how their loved one really died.
The scene from the corner of 10th Street and 40th Avenue from that night painted a dark picture of the NYPD, with cell phone video showing one resident screaming, “Why you driving so fast on this residential block?”
Struck and killed by a patrol car driven by Officer Darren Ilardi, the NYPD has stated that the car had its lights on when it struck the Japanese student. “All they heard was that it was his fault. Ryo Oyamada had stepped in front of a police car with flashing lights and it was a tragedy but it was his fault,” said Steve Vaccaro, the attorney for the Oyamada family.
However, Vaccaro has obtained new video from NYCHA that shows a much different story. An NYPD patrol car racing down 40th Avenue without its lights on, “Mr. Oyamada was struck by a speeding vehicle that just had the usual headlights on that looks like it would have crossed over the double-yellow divider before it struck him, traveling against the flow of traffic when it hit him.”
Click here for the full print report.