The taxi driver who said he was driving Meghan and Harry last night has claimed they ‘weren’t chased’ by photographers.
The Sussexes said they were involved in a ‘near catastrophic’ chase by paparazzi in New York last night.
In an interview with the Washington Post, driver Sukhcharn Singh said he picked the couple up in New York and drove them for a brief period, during which it appeared they were pursued by other vehicles.
Mr Singh said he picked the couple and Meghan’s mum in his yellow cab at about 11pm outside the New York City Police Department’s 19th precinct on East 67th Street.
In Singh’s account, the guard waved him down and asked: ‘Do you want a fare?’
Singh, who goes by ‘Sunny,’ said he drove the group the block and a half west to Park Avenue before heading south. The driver said they were pursued by two vehicles: a black Honda Accord and an older gray Honda CR-V.
‘They kept following us and were coming next to the car,’ Singh said. ‘They took pictures as we stopped and were filming us.’
Singh, 37, who moved to the U.S. from India as a child, said he got the impression from the group that they had been already pursued by paparazzi before entering his car.
After a few minutes, Singh said, the security guard grew concerned about the photographers and asked him to return to the police station. The guard thought they were too exposed and didn’t want their location shared more widely, Singh said.
He turned and headed north up Madison Avenue, driving them back to the pickup point. Singh estimated that the entire journey lasted 10 minutes.
‘I don’t think I would call it a chase,’ Singh said of his period driving the couple. ‘I never felt like I was in danger.
‘It wasn’t like a car chase in a movie. They were quiet and seemed scared but it’s New York — it’s safe.’
An NYPD spokesperson said: ‘On Wednesday evening, May 16, the NYPD assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
‘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.’
The incident happened after Meghan and Harry had attended an awards ceremony in New York on Tuesday.
A source close to the Sussexes told their biographer Omid Scobie that Harry, Meghan and Doria are ‘understandably shaken but thankful everyone’s safe.’
Having left the award ceremony at around 10pm, they were chased by a ‘gang’ of around six paparazzi vehicles, according to the Telegraph.
They were in a vehicle with members of their private security team but felt forced to take refuge in police stations as they struggled to shake the photographers off.
At one point, they left a police station in a taxi, which they hoped would act as a decoy, but it did not work and photographs were taken of them in the vehicle, it is claimed.
Eventually, after waiting it out at a different police station, they made it back to their friend’s house at around 12.30am, it is understood.
One source who had been with them at the award ceremony earlier told the Telegraph the paparazzi were driving so recklessly that it was not just the lives of the Sussexes and Ms Ragland that were put at risk but those of the public on the streets.
The paparazzi are said to have driven on pavements, jumped red lights and reversed down one-way streets.
They are also alleged to have been driving while talking on their phones and taking pictures.
Those involved are understood to have been confronted by uniformed police multiple times but continued the pursuit.
A spokesperson said: ‘This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD (New York Police Department) officers.’
They added: ‘Despite being confronted by uniformed police multiple times, the paparazzi’s cars continued their pursuit in trying to follow the Sussexes and Doria to the private residence they were staying at.
‘While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety.
‘Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all involved.’
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