2 Cops Faced Risk of Injury in Paparazzi's Chase for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, NYC Mayor Says

Details are continuing to surface regarding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's paparazzi car chase in Manhattan last week. Although conflicting accounts of the Tuesday, May 16 incident, which Markle and Harry's office described as a "near catastrophic" incident that lasted upwards of two hours, have emerged, New York City Mayor Eric Adams confirmed that two police officers were nearly injured.

Adams made the comments during a public safety announcement about retail theft on Wednesday morning, per PEOPLE, during which he was asked if he could share any information or comment about the chase. Although Adams did not provide many more details about the incident, he slammed photographers, stating that "it's clear that the press, paparazzis, they want to get the right shot, they want to get the right story, but public safety must always be at the forefront."

"Two of our officers could have been injured," he continued. "New York City is different from a small town somewhere. You shouldn't be speeding anywhere, but this is a densely populated city and I think all of us ... I don't think there's many of us who don't recall how [Prince 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."

News of the chase was first confirmed Harry and Markle's spokesperson, who revealed that "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms. Ragland were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi" as they left Ms. Foundation 2023 Women of Vision Awards: Celebrating Generations of Progress & Power last week. The spokesperson said that "this relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers." Meanwhile, Chris Sanchez, a member of the couple's security team, told CNN, "I have never seen, experienced anything like this. What we were dealing with was very chaotic. There were about a dozen vehicles: cars, scooters and bicycles." Sanchez said, "The public were in jeopardy at several points. It could have been fatal. They were jumping curbs and red lights. At one point they blocked the limousine (carrying the couple) and started taking pictures until we were able to get out."

New York police have since confirmed that "numerous photographers" made the couple's journey on Tuesday evening "challenging." However, police said there had been "no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests." Sukhcharn "Sonny" Singh, a taxi driver involved in the incident, told BBC he had driven a block when his taxi "got blocked by a garbage truck and all of sudden paparazzi came and started taking pictures." Despite the tense moments, police confirmed: "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard."