Cops probed over bike-chase deaths
The NYPD is investigating two officers for their roles in a potential coverup of a 2018 high-speed chase through Queens that ended in a fatal crash, the Daily News has learned.
The officers — Andrew Diaz and Oscar Lopez — were in hot pursuit of motorcyclist Steven Goddard and his girlfriend Amy Gutierrez through the rainy streets of Sunnyside on Nov. 10, 2018, which resulted in the deaths of Goddard and Gutierrez when the bike collided with another car, city lawyers admitted this week. Both were thrown from the Suzuki motorcycle and died in a nearby hospital.
In police reports and information given out to the media the following day, there was no mention of a chase — just a tragic accident. But video obtained by the Daily News in March showed the pursuit in the rain, during which an unmarked car with flashing police lights chases the motorcycle.
The NYPD at the time declined to comment on a lawsuit filed by the family of Goddard, 22, and Guttierez, 20, and refused to answer questions from The News about whether it was a police chase and who were the officers involved.
Nine months later, the city’s Law Department provided the names of Diaz and Lopez in a court filing and admitted there was an ongoing NYPD investigation of the incident.
“During the course of reviewing this matter, the undersigned has recently learned that there is an ongoing investigation by the NYPD arising out of the incident alleged in the complaint into the newly named defendant officers,” wrote Assistant Corporation Counsel Joseph Zangrilli on Monday.
The revelation that Lopez and Diaz are being investigated gave a measure of hope to Goddard’s father, also named Steven Goddard.
“It’s a bittersweet situation where I’m glad it’s not going to be swept under the carpet,” Goddard told The News. “They’re not just getting away scot-free with this. It’s all surreal to me right now.”
The lawsuit, which has been updated to name Lopez and Diaz as defendants, claims the two officers left the scene of the crash as Goddard and Gutierrez lay dying. It also claims that Goddard and Gutierrez were not committing any crimes when the chase began, “much less a serious offense meriting a highspeed pursuit in the rain on wet and slippery roads.”
The officers also already knew Goddard, according to the lawsuit.
The two officers “had interacted with him previously about not wanting him to ride his motorbike,” the suit states, though it isn’t clear how the lawyers know that.
“Due to their being aware of their wrongful and illegal behavior, the defendants fled the scene of the incident, leaving the [motorcyclist] and his passenger on the street bleeding and suffering,” wrote lawyers for the victims’ families.
Both Diaz and Lopez are still on active duty with the NYPD, a department spokeswoman told The News. She declined to comment on an investigation into the officers.