Viral dashcam footage of a staged accident is in the national news today, with the New York Times reporting on a criminal inquiry in Queens County, New York, uncovering a scheme of orchestrated insurance fraud and staged accidents.
The staged car accident was captured on video and went viral on TikTok, was not a singular occurrence, but rather a component of a systematic plot involving numerous crashes designed for financial gain. The New York Times had the story:
“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, a 2021 Acura RDX.”
“‘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.”
According to the Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, those involved were charged with “staging a motor vehicle accident, reckless endangerment, conspiracy, insurance fraud and other crimes for deliberately causing three car crashes and then seeking insurance payouts for damages and purported injuries.” The fraudsters “planned the collisions by luring participants with promises of cash payouts while Murillo drove the vehicles involved in the crashes.”
The witness recalled the events:
“Ms. Natasha said she felt confused during the incident. “‘I knew something sketchy was going on,” she said, “but I genuinely thought it was an accident.’”
“The footage captured a silver Honda as it abruptly pulled in front of Ms. Natasha’s vehicle. It then reversed into her stopped car. People in the Honda then appeared to place a plastic tarp across the vehicle’s rear window from the inside, obstructing Ms. Natasha’s view of the interior. Prosecutors said the Honda’s occupants then changed their seats before getting out.”
“Four people emerged from the Honda, including Mr. Martinez and an unidentified woman from the driver’s side who Mr. Martinez said was his wife, according to prosecutors. The other two people, a woman and a man, have yet to be identified by prosecutors. All four seemed to be distressed as they examined the damage to both vehicles, according to the dash cam footage, and they appeared to record videos and take photos.”
This was not an isolated incident, and it’s happening across the country. There’s a movement at the federal level to take a coordinated approach to these incidents. Georgia Representative Mike Collins recently called on U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch a task force to tackle this systemic issue nationwide:
“Criminal elements are launching an assault against America’s truckers, in the courtroom and on our roads. Staged accidents take advantage of truckers’ high insurance coverage and make them prime targets for criminals looking for a quick payday, saddling truckers with millions of dollars in inflated damages, increasing insurance premiums for all Americans, and driving up the costs for every transported good …These fraudsters and their co-conspirators need to be held accountable for their actions and put in jail for making every one of us less safe on the roads.”
Lawsuit abuse has run rampant across the country. It’s time for much needed reform.