Brooklyn man charged with insurance fraud in staged car crash captured on dashcam

A New York City man was charged last month with staging a car crash for insurance fraud, in a case that received widespread publicity after the victim shared dashboard camera images of the crash, authorities announced Friday.

Prosecutors say the 28-year-old Brooklyn man was in a car whose driver cut off another car in Queens and then deliberately backed into the vehicle.

“The defendant and others allegedly staged a crash on a busy highway and rammed an unsuspecting driver with their vehicle after forcibly stopping her in the left lane of the Belt Parkway,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement. press release. “Countless lives have been endangered by this incredibly reckless behavior.”

According to prosecutors, Asphia Natasha was driving north on the Belt Parkway on Oct. 16 when a silver Honda Civic cut in front of her car and stopped.

Natasha braked to avoid a collision and the driver of the Honda backed into her car, damaging both vehicles, prosecutors said.

The Honda’s occupants held up what appeared to be a plastic tarp that partially obscured Natasha’s view inside the Honda, and the Honda’s occupants switched seats in the car, Katz said.

Natasha’s dashboard camera captured the collision and the video has been viewed millions of times on TikTok.

Four people got out of the car after the crash. The 28-year-old man was arrested Thursday after arriving in New York on a flight from Ecuador, Katz said. Prosecutors believe he was a passenger in the rear seat of the Honda at the time of the crash. The search continues for the other three people in the car.

The man was indicted on charges including arranging a motor vehicle accident, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and insurance fraud. He pleaded not guilty. A message seeking comment was left with his attorney.