Nicki Minaj’s mother filed a lawsuit against the man accused of killing her husband in a hit and run last month.
Nicki’s father, Robert Maraj, 64, died on February 12 when he was hit by a car between Roslyn Road and Raff Avenue in Nassau County, New York, with the driver of the vehicle that hit him. at the scene.
Charles Polevich, 70, later turned himself in to the police in connection with the incident and was charged with two offenses, including leaving the scene of an incident involving the death of a person and the manipulation or suppression of physical evidence.
And on Friday, Carol Maraj’s mother, now Nicki’s widow, filed documents to sue Polevich in the state Supreme Court, where he is seeking $ 150 million.
Next to: Nicki Minaj’s mother (right), Carol Maraj (left), filed a lawsuit against the man accused of killing her husband in a coup and fled last month
The news was confirmed by her lawyers, Ben Crump and Paul Napoli. Crump wrote on Instagram: “Paul Napoli and I filed a $ 150 million lawsuit for the continued death of Robert Maraj, @ nickiminaj’s father.
“He was fatally injured in a runaway accident on February 12, 2021, when he was hit by a car driven by Charles Polevich while Mr. Maraj was walking along a Long Island road. After hitting Maraj, Polevich left the scene of the accident and did not call the emergency services or help Maraj.
“Not only was he irresponsible and careless, but he was more concerned with running away and hiding than seeking help.
“Polevich’s behavior was criminal, cowardly and immoral. We will answer him for his reckless actions that led to the death of Robert Maraj! ‘
The suspect: Charles Polevich, 70, later turned himself in to the police in connection with the incident and was charged with two offenses.
According to the criminal complaint filed against Polevich, the man allegedly hit Robert with his 1992 white Volvo, and police say he got out of the vehicle, stood over the victim, asked him if he was “okay,” went and returned to his vehicle and fled the scene.
Police also claimed that Polevich then went to his home “avoiding intersections and hid his vehicle in the garage detached from his residence.”
The news comes two days after Polevich turned himself in to police and was arrested Wednesday morning.
Maraj, 64, was killed Friday in Mineola, Long Island, after being hit by a car heading north on Roslyn Road at the intersection with Raff Avenue, authorities said.
The cat came out of the bag: the news was confirmed by her lawyers, Ben Crump and Paul Napoli – Crump made this post on Instagram
The Nassau County Police Department announced the arrest of Polevich during a morning press conference.
Polevich turned himself in to police after officers followed him to his home in Mineola and found his damaged car in the garage.
Detective Stephen Fitzpatrick told reporters that Polveich was driving his 1992 Volvo white wagon north on Roslyn Road when he hit Maraj, who was walking on the road, possibly due to piles of snow on the sidewalk.
Polevich is photographed in handcuffs after surrendering to Nassau County police on Wednesday morning, a few days after the fatal accident
Polevich, who has spent a lot of time in Guam but has a house in Mineola, initially got out of the car, spotted Maraj lying on the floor, then got behind the wheel and drove to his home, where he parked his Volvo- in the garage and covered it, according to police.
“He was absolutely aware of what had happened,” Fitzpatrick said. ‘He looked at the deceased and made the conscious decision to leave instead of calling 911, instead of calling an ambulance for the man. He went home and secreted the vehicle, so he is very aware of what he did.
Maraj was taken to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries the next day.
An undated photo shows Nicki Minaj with her father Robert Maraj, 64, whom she tried to forgive after her difficult childhood
Detectives used surveillance footage from the neighborhood to track the vehicle involved in the crash-and-run accident at Polevich’s home in block 160 on Roselle Street in Mineola.
The officers then offered Polevici the opportunity to surrender at the police headquarters.
He was accused of leaving the scene of the car accident and falsifying the evidence.
Police said that if Polevich had remained at the scene and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time, he would have avoided criminal charges.
Fitzpatrick told reporters that police were in constant communication with Maraj’s family.
On Wednesday, a judge set Polevich’s bail at $ 250,000, suspended his driver’s license and ordered him to hand over his passport, Newsday reported. He is due to return to court on Friday.
The crash occurred Friday night at the intersection of Roslyn and Raff Avenue streets in Mineola, New York.
Carol Maraj, Robert’s estranged wife, told the newspaper that she was “very, very, very happy” with Polevich’s arrest.
Polevich has no previous criminal record. Her name appeared in an article published by the Pacific Daily News in June 2016, when a former accountant at the environmental consulting firm in Guam was sentenced to federal prison for stealing nearly $ 159,000 from her employer.
Polevich testified before the court that the criminal actions of his staff almost caused his small business.
Minaj, 38, has not yet spoken publicly about her father’s death, but has previously spoken about her difficult childhood and Robert’s substance abuse.
Minaj, 38, has not yet made a public statement about her father’s death, and her publicist did not immediately respond to a phone call from DailyMail.com on Tuesday.
Their relationship had difficulties, Minaj accusing her father of being an abusive alcoholic and crack addict in his youth, but eight years ago he said he was trying to clean up his act.
– She’s still with my mother. He went to rehab and cleaned up. Eventually, they started going to church a lot, and he saved himself and started to change his life, ”she told the Guardian in 2012.“ Now he is away from drugs. Stop instilling fear in people.
The family has rarely mentioned Maraj in recent years, and his relationship with Minaj and her mother Carol at the time of his death was not immediately clear.
The photos show that Minaj and her father, who was also called Omar, sometimes participated in events together, obviously trying to correlate things.
Minaj, born Onika Tanya Maraj in Trinidad and raised in New York City, talked about her relationship with her father several times, often posting photos of the couple sharing loving hugs on social media.
Her parents moved to the United States from Trinidad when she was five and raised Minaj in Jamaica, Queens.
She detailed the domestic violence in her childhood home – including an incident in which he tried to burn down their house – and how her father would use crack cocaine.
Minaj’s father, Robert and mother Carol, are photographed together in 2013
In a 2015 interview with the New York Times, Minaj said she was never personally abused by her father.
‘Not. He was just abusive, ‘she said. “I would always hear him shouting and cursing, always. And it made me feel like it was the way to interact, because that’s how I saw him interact.
In 2010, she told Details magazine about how Maraj allegedly abused her mother, his wife Carol.
“He drank a lot and took drugs and would become violent when he did. When he set the house on fire, he was trying to kill my mother, ‘she said at the time.
He came out before it burned to the end. I always had this with the empowerment of the woman in the back of my mind – because I wanted my mother to be stronger and she couldn’t be. I thought, “If I’m successful, I can change his life.” ‘
Carol Maraj launched her own music career, as well as a charitable foundation dedicated to supporting victims of domestic abuse.
Maraj was driving on a road in Mineola on Friday at about 6 p.m., when he was hit by a car heading north on Roslyn Road at the intersection with Raff Avenue (pictured).
Robert Maraj admitted that he had anger problems, but said in a 2012 interview with TMZ that his daughter’s account of his behavior was “exaggerated.”
The family has already had a tough year, after Minaj’s brother, Jelani Maraj, was sentenced to life in prison in January 2020 for raping an 11-year-old child.
Jelani, 41, was found guilty of “predatory sexual assault against a child and endangering a child’s welfare” in 2017 and last year, Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Robert McDonald refused to grant a moderate punishment.
Despite the fact that his lawyer read a letter from 2016 written by his famous sister, in an attempt to reduce his time behind bars, calling him “the most patient, gentle, authentic, altruistic gifted man I know ”.
The judge said that “his point is that you destroyed this child.”