bitchy | The Sussexes’ taxi driver has given multiple interviews, partly confirming their story

As I’m writing this, it’s been less than 24 hours since the Sussexes’ spokesperson made the statement about the “near catastrophic” paparazzi chase in New York on Tuesday night. In that time, there’s been a grotesque effort to “fact check” the Sussexes’ statement. First it was “oh, it wasn’t two hours.” It was. Then it was “they arranged the whole thing.” They did not. Currently, media outlets are cherry-picking quotes from the taxi driver – who was only driving the Sussexes for about ten minutes after they retreated into a police precinct – to “prove” that the Sussexes were not really being “chased.”

In an interview on Wednesday, taxi driver Sukhcharn Singh said he picked the couple up in New York on Tuesday night and drove them for a brief period, during which it appeared they were pursued by other vehicles. Singh said he picked up Harry, Meghan, an older Black woman and one security guard in his yellow cab at about 11 p.m. 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.”

[From WaPo]

Again, this was ten minutes of a two-hour ordeal. They had already been chased and pursued, which is why the Sussexes retreated to a police station in the first place. Singh also gave an interview to Piers Morgan, and Singh basically confirmed that paparazzi surrounded his taxi and that he’d never seen anything like that in New York, where plenty of famous people live.

Bizarrely, People Magazine also ran quotes from “a photographer on the scene” who said that it is “sensational” to describe the pursuit as “near catastrophic… Nobody got a ticket or arrested…I don’t see how it was near catastrophic other than crazy hyperbole.” A second source told People, “At any point, they could have gone to a police station or pulled into a garage.” They… did go to a police station. Twice. Paparazzi were driving on the sidewalks to get to them. And why would you quote the paparazzi who were the ones creating the situation?

A witness who saw Prince Harry and his wife Meghan leave a charity event Tuesday recounted the pursuit by paparazzi.

Both the witness and NYC Mayor Eric Adams said the incident stirred memories of the car crash that killed Harry’s mother, Princess Diana.https://t.co/CJTMsraSdy pic.twitter.com/lEPGCkdV67

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 17, 2023

Exclusive: Member of Prince Harry and Meghan’s security detail tells @MaxFosterCNN there were about a dozen vehicles pursuing the couple after last night’s event in NYC.

“The public were in jeopardy at several points. It could have been fatal.” pic.twitter.com/BqF3V0ZvWC

— CNN International PR (@cnnipr) May 17, 2023

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.