A recent court finding has substantiated Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's 2023 claim that they were involved in a near "catastrophic" car chase in New York City.
On May 16, 2023, the royal couple claimed via a spokesperson that they were involved in a "relentless pursuit" that lasted "two hours" after leaving an awards ceremony in Manhattan, New York. Per the same spokesperson, the car chase "resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers."
At the time, Prince Harry and Meghan were mocked for their description of the events—as The Daily Beast reports, a cab driver for the couple said at the time that "(I) never felt like I was in danger ... it's New York, it's safe." New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at the time that he found it "hard to believe that there was a two-hour high speed chase" in Manhattan.
Now, nearly 10 months later, the NYPD has confirmed that the paparazzi chasing the couple were not only “reckless” but “persistently dangerous.” In a 2023 letter to the Metropolitan Police in London, the NYPD’s Chief of Intelligence said the department "found the following: reckless disregard of vehicle and traffic laws and persistently dangerous and unacceptable behavior on the part of the paparazzi during the night in question."
At the time of the alleged incident, the NYPD "played down" the chase, according to The Daily Beast.
“The NYPD assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex," a spokesperson for the department said in May, 2023. "There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard.”
Now, the department claims it has found evidence that "the individuals" chasing the couple at the time "operated vehicles, scooters, and bicycles in a manner that forced the security team, which included an NYPD Lead Car, to take evasive actions on several occasions and a circuitous route to avoid being struck by pursuing vehicles or trapped on side blocks."
After the Manhattan District Attorney’s office reviewed the evidence, prosecutors even so far as to conclude that they "have sufficient evidence to arrest two individuals for reckless endangerment."
In the 2023 Netflix limited series Heart of Invictus, Prince Harry opened up about being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following his mother's untimely death, which involved a catastrophic paparazzi car chase.
“The trigger to me was actually returning from Afghanistan, but the stuff that was coming up was from … 1997 from the age of 12,” Prince Harry said at the time, as reported by Page Six.
“The biggest struggle for me is that no one around me could really help,” he added. "I didn’t have that support structure, that network, or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me.”
The Duke of Sussex went on to say that he spent the majority of his childhood and young adult life "suppressing" the trauma of losing his mother "at such a young age," adding that he was "never really aware" of how her death impacted him "until it all came fizzing out."
“I was bouncing off the walls. Like, what is going on here? I’m feeling everything as opposed to being numb," he said." Unfortunately, like most of us, the first time you really consider therapy is when you’re lying on the floor in the fetal position, probably wishing that you dealt with some of this stuff previously."
