The worldwide privacy continues as the Sussexes appear to alienate New York. The trio of Harold, the wife, and the mother-in-law left the Ms Foundation awards event on 54th St on 16 May 2023, and were allegedly headed back to their lodgings at 10pm, which was the residence of a friend in the Upper East Side.
What then transpired was an alleged car chase by the paparazzi for more than 2 hours around Manhattan, as claimed by the Sussex PR team where a statement was issued 5-6 hours after the apparent incident. No one reported the incident in real time—no pedestrians, other drivers, no police or media. They claimed they were in danger, and seem to throw the blame on the NYPD for failing to provide the protection and escort service they believed they needed and were entitled to.
In the Netflix faux documentary, they enacted a scene that purported they were being chased by paparazzi, yet none were actually seen and stock images of paparazzi at other events were shown for dramatic effect. Were the Harkles so desperate to create content that they staged an incident so that they could have some footage for the next show, and to use it in Harold’s legal case to persuade the courts that he is so much danger that he simply must have special police protection, yet fails to wear a seat belt in a cab!
Everyone has said it is impossible to have a 2 hour car chase in Manhattan, with the Sussex PR statement claiming that the trio of TOS, TW and Doria were in a ‘near catastrophic car chase’ and claiming that there were near collisions for pedestrians and other cars. Locals have mocked such a claim, and retired cops and those who work as security for other public figures have stated that such an incident would not have happened unless it was staged, and the procedures the Sussex security followed were incorrect and can only have been staged for effect.
The NYPD issued a statement and did not support the claims made by the PR statement, and the Mayor of New York also made a statement and criticised the paparazzi, but did not blame the NYPD for failing to do more and said it would be hard to believe there was a 2 hour car chase in the city. However, given that his statement was issued when few facts were available and where eyewitness statements contradict the Sussex version of events, one can perhaps consider that the statement was made in haste.
The driver of the yellow cab that they were in also disputed the fact that there was a chase (and the video shows no chase), police who were at the event said there was no chase, the paparazzi who were there (3 in cars and 1 on a bike) said they followed for a time and then backed off when asked. Backgrid issued a statement that disputed the Sussex PR claim that the paparazzi were acting aggressively and dangerous.
New York, like many cities has CCTV cameras everywhere and so it won’t be difficult to piece together what did actually happen. What we do know is that there were no 911 calls for help, and eyewitnesses appear to give a different story compared the to Sussex statement. It can also be disputed as to whether they actually went into the police precincts as claimed to ask for help, because many have said if that was the case they would have been escorted home in an unmarked car with blacked out windows. Instead, it is claimed they were advised to switch to a yellow cab to try and lose the 4 paparazzi! Somehow, that doesn’t add up…
TOS and TW had 4 black SUVs as part of their security convoy and left about 10pm.
They could have been home in less that 20 minutes from where they were.
Video footage shows most of the paparazzi leaving after they had taken photos of them getting into the SUV and departing for the night.
Around 11.30 pm, the Sussex bodyguard (Chris Sanchez, who later was authorised to give a statement to CNN to state how terrifying the ordeal had been) hailed a yellow cab near 67th St which would be near the NYPD 19th precinct.
It has been suggested that the police suggested they get into a yellow cab and drive around to lose the paparazzi. Most say that the police would not advise such a thing, and if they had been in danger an unmarked police car would have taken them home in a vehicle with blacked out windows.
The trio are then photographed swapping vehicles and getting into the yellow cab of Sukhcharn Singh.
Video footage shows the cab having to stop behind a garbage truck which is quite common at that time of day and the paparazzi catch them up.
We see the Sussex security get out to speak to the paparazzi (3 in a car and 1 on a bike we are told), but there is actually no one in front blocking them. While the security is waving his hands around, the paparazzi step back. Meanwhile, the Sussexes are holding up two police vehicles on their way to an emergency.
On the video, we see another suited security chap running towards the cab, and who appeared to come from a black SUV a few cars behind. It could be suggested that he thought his colleague needed help as he was waving his arms around shouting at the few paparazzi there were, and that the SUV convoy were tailing the cab for the swap back to the SUV.
Inside, it doesn’t appear that any of the Sussex entourage are wearing seatbelts. the cab speeds off and no one follows them, and the police vehicles turn right.
The cab driver says that they drove around the block for 10 minutes and was then told to drop the party off at another police precinct.
Eyewitnesses state that it was the Sussex convoy of SUVs that were causing the chase and issues with dangerous driving, blocking roads, and driving on the wrong side of the road.
The Sussexes have demanded that Backgrid give them all the footage they have from that night.
“We hereby demand that Backgrid immediately provide us with copies of all photos, videos, and/or films taken last night by the freelance photographers after the couple left their event and over the next several hours.”
The legal team for Backgrid have refused, stating,
“In America, as I’m sure you know, property belongs to the owner of it: third parties cannot just demand it be given to them, as perhaps kings can do.
“Perhaps you should sit down with your client and advise them that his English rules of royal prerogative to demand that the citizenry hand over their property to the crown were rejected by this country long ago.
“We stand by our founding fathers.”
The Sussexes have no right to the material, that is unless they hired the paparazzi to chase them, in which case they would only have rights once the paparazzi had been paid and money had changed hands.
The suggestion is that this was a staged act to try and gain support and sympathy, and to recreate a scenario where Diana died being chased by paparazzi, even though that was not why she died. This would also assist Harold, the overseas son in his legal challenge against the government to obtain special police protection due to his belief that his life is in danger around the world. However, he seemed to have survived with his security detail for the last 3 years!
Everyone has stated it is impossible to have a 2 hour car chase in New York City without hitting traffic or a set of traffic lights.
Backgrid also issued a statement to defend the actions of the paparazzi.
In the end, the police escorted them to their lodgings, so why didn’t they request this as soon as they thought they were in danger rather than go through the 2 hour car chase?
Why does the incident appear to be staged and why is everyone questioning the feasibility of the Sussex statement? Not all the papers bothered to report the story knowing that it had not been verified, and had probably been exaggerated. In the UK, the Mirror, Daily Star and the Sun didn’t give them the front page, but others chose to do so even though people are only actually interested in NYPD debunking the Sussex PR statement.
Why did they switch from a SUV with blacked out windows to a yellow cab? Perhaps because the cab doesn’t have blacked out windows so they could not take photos or prove it was them in the vehicle. Apparently, they switched cars more than once, but why when they had 4 cars at their disposal and weren’t even far from their lodgings? They claimed they circled to protect the privacy of the friend, but if they were then concerned they should have stayed in a hotel. No one cares about the friend as there are thousands of celebrities who reside in NYC.
Why didn’t they call 911 if there was an incident where a vehicle was dangerous? The protocol is to call, pull over and wait for police assistance and to give the license plate of the offending vehicle.
Allegedly, the police advised them to take a yellow cab to lose the paps. It seems odd advice when they were so close to their lodgings, and with 4 SUVs, they could easily have sandwiched the paps and kept them at bay, or used one as a decoy.
Manhattan is small, and it is impossible to have a car chase without being pulled over, and it’s highly improbable that one could go over 30 miles an hour. The claim has been debunked by all sane people in New York and anyone who has been there for more than 24 hours.
There were paparazzi at the event, but only a few followed them afterwards. Why was that? Were they paid to duo so by the Harkles to create the scene of a chase?
The incident has been described as over exaggerated by multiple parties including security personnel and retired cops, and as highly unlikely to have taken place as described.
The actions of the Sussex security personnel do not make sense, to get out of a vehicle and to wander around leaving TOS, and TW unprotected, while waving his hands at the paps who weren’t even blocking the cab seems odd. Close protection means that you stay close at all times.
In part of the footage, there appears to be a colleague running to assist the situation who was in a vehicle behind the police vehicles that were stuck behind the cab and the ‘act’ of telling the few paps that were there to stand back. That indicates that they had staged some kind of plan, where the cab was to circle and then they would switch vehicles again.
Why do the Harkles want the Backgrid footage? Is it so that they can destroy any evidence of staging the incident? The PR stunt did make headlines, but that was prior to the other parties involved making their statements which cast doubt on the accuracy of the Sussex statement.
Due to no one corroborating the version of events the Sussex PR gave, Chris Sanchez, the Sussex bodyguard was permitted to give a statement to CNN to back their version. Of course he would as he is paid by them and claimed the paparazzi wee running red lights endangering pedestrians. Eyewitnesses state that it was the Sussex cars that drove erratically and that were reckless and dangerous.
“I have never seen, experienced anything like this. What we were dealing with was very chaotic. There were about a dozen vehicles: cars, scooters and bicycles.”
“The public were in jeopardy at several points. It could have been fatal. They were jumping curbs and red lights. At one point they blocked the limousine and started taking pictures until we were able to get out”.
The car chase story has not resulted in much if any sympathy for the Harkles, as more Americans can see the pattern of them creating drama for headlines and PR. The Harkles blamed the UK tabloids and media for being hounded out of the country, so will they do the same for the US paparazzi and blame them? Why don’t they just move to Alaska or a where the chances of being chased by the paparazzi are slim if they want their privacy so badly?
