NYC Mayor Adams invoked Princess Diana when commenting on the pap-swarm

Of course there were people trying to claim that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s “near catastrophic” run-in with a swarm of “paparazzi” on May 16th was some kind of set-up or exaggeration. It was not. The Sussexes’ spokesperson called it a “relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers.” The NYPD backed up Harry and Meghan’s version of events, with the NYPD spokesperson releasing this statement on Wednesday:

On Tuesday 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.

[From Deadline]

By my understanding, Harry and Meghan’s private security was with them and their private security had informed the NYPD that they needed help, especially as they exited the awards ceremony at the Ziegfeld Theater. There were at least two NYPD officers as part of the security convoy, and there was also at least one stop at a police precinct (the 19th) in an attempt to cool down the pursuit which involved paparazzi in cars, scooters and motorbikes. Law enforcement sources told Deadline: “Harry and Meghan’s private security and a trope of NYPD officers attempted evasive maneuvers, and things could have gotten messy, but didn’t.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was asked about the incident in a press conference on Wednesday and he said:

“I think all of us – I don’t think there’s many of us who don’t recall how [Harry’s] mom died, and it would be horrific to lose innocent bystanders during a chase like this and something to have happened to them as well. So I think we have to be extremely responsible. I thought that was a bit reckless and irresponsible.”

However, the Mayor was openly skeptical about the claims of Harry and Meghan’s team about the duration of the chase. “I would find it hard to believe that there was a two-hour high speed chase,” he noted. We have a lot of traffic, a lot of movement, a lot of people are using our streets,” he added, stating that even a chase as long as just 10-minutes would be “extremely dangerous” in Manhattan.

[From Deadline]

Except it was a two-hour ordeal, just not entirely in the streets. There was a cooldown period where Harry, Meghan and Doria stayed in the 19th precinct (under advice from the police in their security convoy) and an entire street was blocked off so that the Sussex party could be able to exit the precinct safely. Still, I appreciate that Mayor Adams made a reference to Princess Diana.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images and Backgrid.