Politics
Brooklyn Man Charged With Staging Car Crash Shown in TikTok Video
The crash, which prosecutors said was staged, was captured by dash cameras. The footage was uploaded to TikTok, where it has since been viewed more than 74 million times.
A Brooklyn man who was shown in a popular TikTok dash cam video of a crash on a busy Queens highway was charged with insurance fraud, staging a motor vehicle accident, reckless endangerment and other crimes, prosecutors announced on Friday.
The man, Maikel Martinez, 28, was with three other people in October when their silver Honda appeared to cut off another driver on the Belt Parkway, a major highway that runs through southern Brooklyn and southern Queens. The other driver, Ashpia Natasha, stopped her car to avoid a crash, but then the vehicle that Mr. Martinez was in backed into her. She said it caused $8,300 in damages to her vehicle.
“It all happened so fast,” Ms. Natasha, 31, told The New York Times last month, adding that she thought: “Maybe they’re here to hurt me.”
Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney, said in a statement, “Countless lives were jeopardized due to this incredibly reckless conduct.” She added that the investigation into the crash was ongoing. It is a felony in New York to stage a car crash for insurance purposes.
Mr. Martinez, who was arrested on Thursday after returning to New York from Ecuador, could serve up to seven years in prison if convicted. He was also charged with criminal mischief and conspiracy.
Queens Defenders, a public defenders group that is representing Mr. Martinez, declined to comment on the charges.
