Accused terrorist Saifullo Saipov attacked New York Halloween to maximize death: prosecutors

The accused terrorist chose Halloween to “mow down people” on crowded city streets “like a crop” in a 6,000-pound truck as part of his deceptive bid to join ISIS, prosecutors told Manhattan jurors Tuesday.

In his final speech at the Saifullo Saipov death penalty trial in Manhattan Federal Court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Richman said the Uzbek native wanted to become a member of the Islamic State terrorist group by attacking Americans on their home soil.

According to the prosecutor, on October 31, 2017, Saipov raced down a busy bike path parallel to the Hudson River Park, killing eight people and injuring 11 others.

Richman said before the attack that Saipov’s motives were clear based on his Internet search history. During the bloodshed, he wore hand-drawn ISIS slogans.

“After his attack was completed, after he turned that bike path into a scene of bleeding and horror, after he crashed into a school bus with such force that he had to be sawn apart — after he received many hours of medical care in the same hospital where some of his victims were being treated – he asked to hang the ISIS flag and smiled,” Richman said.

According to the prosecutor, Saipov, 34, wrote on a notepad: “The Islamic State will stand.”

“Those were his words to tell the world why – why he attacked this city,” Richman said. “Why did he target innocent civilians. Why did he turn the bike path into his battlefield, why did he ruthlessly overtake them.”

The prosecutor said that Saipov methodically researched for several months how to carry out the attack and chose the truck as his weapon to inflict the most damage. He pointed to Saipov’s phone records showing how he drew inspiration from the 2016 terrorist attack in the city of Nice on the French Riviera, when Mohamed Lauege-Bouhel, a French-Tunisian man, killed 84 people by crashing into a crowd of revelers on Bastille Day in a truck. and then open fire.

Richman said that Saipov planned to maximize the number of people he killed by exploring busy areas that attracted large crowds, and told the FBI that he deliberately chose Halloween because he knew there would be more people outside.

“He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly why he did it. And he knew exactly what the result would be: he would become part of ISIS,” Richman said.

Saifullo Saipov

Saipov’s lawyer, David Patton, did not dispute that his client carried out the devastating attack, but asked the jury to drop racketeering charges against him, claiming he committed atrocities to join ISIS. According to the defense, Saipov became radicalized in the United States while working as a truck driver, when he spent time devouring conspiracy theories on the Internet.

“If you attack and plan to die, you don’t plan to join the organization. You do not plan to become a member of any organization,” Patton said.

“Now I know that as we sit here, you must be full of anger and disgust at Mr. Saipov and what he did,” the lawyer continued. “But it is vital not to convict him of crimes he did not commit, where the facts are not in accordance with the law, so that we do not violate the rule of law even in the face of justified anger and outrage at what he did. “.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, the first such case in President Biden’s Justice Department.

If the jury finds Saipov guilty of crimes that carry the death penalty, they will reconvene to unanimously decide whether he is executed or sent to prison for life.

During the trial, the jury saw a heartbreaking video of Saipov allegedly plowing his way down a bike path in a truck he rented from a Home Depot store in Passaic, New Jersey.

Blood-curdling screams can be heard in the video of the attack and its aftermath. The jury saw footage of the accused terrorist facing a hail of bullets from a city police officer after Saipov allegedly crashed into a school bus, breaking his death trail.

The bloodshed killed 32-year-old Darren Drake from New Jersey and 23-year-old New Yorker Nicholas Cleaves.

Argentine tourists Hernan Diego Mendoza, Alejandro Damian Panyukko, Ariel Erliy, Hernan Ferrucci and Diego Enrique Angelini also died. Only half of a group of 10 high school friends who met in town to celebrate 30 years of friendship made it home.

Anne-Laure Decadt, 31, from Belgium, mother of two, was fatally shot while driving with her two sisters and mother.

Content Source

California Press News – Latest News:
Los Angeles Local News || Bay Area Local News || California News || Lifestyle News || National news || Travel News || Health News

Related Articles

Back to top button