After NYPD cops chased a vehicle that crashed and burst into flames early on a morning in April, the officers drove past the vehicle with the victim still inside — and continued driving, video of the fatal crash obtained by THE CITY shows.
The crash and flames killed 31-year-old Francisco Guzman Parra, whom officers from the 50 Precinct had pursued from The Bronx to Upper Manhattan via the Henry Hudson Parkway.
A senior police official told the New York Times afterward that the department was reviewing whether the officers left the scene without reporting the deadly crash, which followed a pursuit prompted by the belief Guzman Parra was driving a stolen SUV. The officers were immediately suspended, a police spokesperson told THE CITY in the days after the crash.
“The video shows us confirmation of the neglect that was done that night,” said Guzman Parra’s sister, Shakira Guzman, 27, hours after watching security footage of the incident for the first time. “It was devastating, in a way even torturing, to see how quick this accident happened, how no help was offered, and then how long he burned for. It was a lot.”
The security footage appears to be from a camera at the top of an exit ramp that leads from the Henry Hudson Parkway to a T-intersection at Dyckman Street.
It shows a vehicle speeding down the ramp and crashing into the building across the street on Dyckman Street, which is owned by the city parks department. There appear to be flickers of flame coming from the crash scene.
Ten seconds later, a police SUV can be seen driving quickly down the same ramp. The breaklights engage for a few seconds. The vehicle appears to come to almost a complete stop at the intersection before turning left and driving out of frame.
“In that one moment where they effectively weighed their careers to be more important than Francisco’s life, they played the role of judge, jury and executioner – and we don’t allow that here for very good reasons,” said Jeremy Feigenbaum, an attorney at the Spodek Law Group in Lower Manhattan who is representing the family. “If the cops had done their job there was at least a chance he could have gotten out of there.”
Guzman Parra’s family said it wasn’t until nearly 20 minutes after the crash that firefighters and police responded to the scene, following a 911 call that came in just before 5 a.m.
Patrick Hendry, the president of the city’s Police Benevolent Association, previously issued a statement saying the officers weren’t able to see the crashed vehicle after they exited the parkway.
A union spokesperson on Thursday said that statement still stands. Spokespeople for the police department didn’t respond to a request for comment regarding the video.
Guzman and her family are calling on the department, which has declined to identify the officers, to terminate them. They also believe criminal charges are warranted against the officers.
The NYPD’s Force Investigation Division is reviewing the incident, while the office of the State Attorney General has determined after a preliminary assessment that the officers didn’t cause Guzman Parra’s death, which takes the case out of the AG’s purview.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is reviewing whether other charges against the officers are warranted, a spokesperson confirmed. Guzman Parra’s family said the DA’s office told them the officers are still suspended, with pay.
Guzman Parra’s death came after NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch issued a directive in January intended to rein in the number of vehicle pursuits that cops engage in, a tactic that ballooned for a two-year stretch under her predecessors — particularly under the leadership of then Chief of Patrol John Chell.
THE CITY previously identified at least 17 deaths and more than 600 people injured during that stretch in collisions that followed police car chases.
The new policy restricts police officers to pursuits only in cases where felonies and violent misdemeanors are suspected, as opposed to minor traffic violations and other non-violent offenses.
Tisch promoted Chell to Chief of Department, the top uniformed post, in late December.
Guzman said that her family referred to Guzman Parra by his second name, Andres, and that some friends called him by the nickname “Niño,” which means “kid” in Spanish.
“He was like a kid. He joked around a lot, he was always happy, always there to help,” she told THE CITY.
“So we remember him as someone who was loving.”
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