Harry and Meghan’s cab driver in paparazzi drama ‘wouldn’t call it a chase,’ as NYPD downplays the danger

Queen Elizabeth III’s famous statement, “recollections may vary,” might apply to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s explosive claim that they became prey Tuesday night to a “relentless” and “near catastrophic” pursuit by paparazzi through the streets of New York, with photographers allegedly causing multiple near collisions with other drivers, pedestrians and two NYPD officers.

While Harry and Meghan’s spokesperson described a two-hour ordeal that is reminiscent of “The French Connection,” New York City police officials and a taxi driver briefly enlisted to help the couple evade the paparazzi offered a far less dramatic account. A NYPD spokesperson agreed that there were numerous photographers following the couple Tuesday night, which made their “transport challenging.” But the spokesperson, Julian Philips, also said the Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination safely and there were no reported collisions or injuries and no one was arrested, the New York Times said.

“I don’t think I would call it a chase,” taxi driver Sukhcharn Singh told the Washington Post about the 10 minutes or so that he drove the famous couple around Manhattan. “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.”

A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex raised the specter of Princess Diana’s death in Paris in 1997, while she was being pursued by paparazzi, by issuing an alarming statement early Wednesday. It said Diana’s son, Harry, his wife, Meghan, and Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, were involved in a dangerous vehicle pursuit the night before.

The incident took place after the trio attended the Ms. Foundation’s Women of Vision Gala at the Ziegfeld Theater is Midtown Manhattan, where the American former TV actor was honored by Gloria Steinem.

The trio left the theater shortly before 10 p.m. and got into a waiting SUV, presumably to head back to a place on the Upper East Side where they were staying, according the New York Times. But they were met with crowds of photographers outside. From this moment on, accounts differ on what happened as police continue to put together a timeline.

Harry and Meghan’s spokesperson described a two-hour ordeal in which Harry, Meghan and her mother were involved in a “near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi.”

Page Six reported that the trio were “immediately” followed by around 12 paparazzi, one of whom hit another another car while another almost ran over a NYPD officer during the “near-fatal” chase. Things got really “intense,” TMZ reported, when the pursuit took Harry, Meghan and her mother to FDR drive, along the east side of Manhattan, where their SUV reached speeds of up to 80 mph in an attempt to shake the photographers.

The BBC cited online claims that said the chase involved “half a dozen cars, with reckless driving including going through red lights, driving on the pavement, carrying out blocking moves, and reversing down a one way-way street.”

Chris Sanchez, a member of the couple’s security detail, told CNN he believed that the paparazzi’s actions put the public in danger, claiming that, “There were about a dozen vehicles, cars, scooters and bicycles” chasing them. He said the paparazzi jumped curbs and passed red lights several times during the incident.

“The public was in jeopardy at several points,” Sanchez said. “It could have been fatal. I have never seen, experienced anything like this.”

The couple’s spokesperson said: “While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety. Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all in involved.”

NYPD officials described a scene to NBC New York that was “a bit chaotic” but a situation that was was not so dire. A high-ranking source told the New York Post that the department received no “collision reports or 911 calls” related to the incident. Two senior law enforcement officers told NBC New York that at least one marked NYPD vehicle accompanied Harry and Meghan’s during the incident.

The New York Times reported that the trio didn’t immediately return to their friend’s home after leaving the theater, because they didn’t want the media to learn their friend’s address. So they were driven around for about an hour, including up the FDR Drive, but they couldn’t shake the paparazzi.

With their police escort, they were eventually taken to the 19th Precinct, where they stayed for about 15 minutes while police blocked traffic in the area.

This is where taxi driver Singh comes into the drama. He told the Washington Post he picked up Harry, Meghan and Ragland at about 11 pm. outside the precinct on East 67th Street. According to Singh, the guard waved him down and asked: “Do you want a fare?”

Singh 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.”

After a few minutes, Singh said, their guard grew concerned about the photographers and asked him to return to the police station. Singh said he turned and headed north up Madison Avenue, driving them back to the pickup precinct. Singh said he probably spent about 10 minutes in the Sussexes’ company. It wasn’t immediately known how the Sussexes eventually made it home.

At an unrelated news conference Wednesday morning, Mayor Eric Adams condemned what happened as “a bit reckless and irresponsible,” the New York Times reported. He said he found it “hard to believe that there was a two-hour high-speed chase” through New York City, as he explained he still was waiting to get a more in-depth briefing of what happened later in the day.

Even a 10-minute pursuit, Adams said, would be “extremely dangerous in New York City. We have a lot of traffic, a lot of movement, a lot of people are using our streets.”

In their six-hour Netflix documentary, Harry and Meghan were shown being chauffeured in New York City and fearing that they were being followed by photographers, the Washington Post said.

In an interview for the documentary “Diana, 7 Days”, Prince Harry referred to the paparazzi as “a pack of dogs” who constantly hounded his mother before her death in a Paris tunnel, the BBC reported. “Every single time she went out there’d be a pack of people waiting for her,” he said. “I mean a pack of dogs followed her, chased her, harassed her, called her names, spat at her, trying to get a reaction, to get that photograph of her lashing out.”

The paparazzi incident in New York City comes after Harry was told that he couldn’t hire Metropolitan police for protection when he visits Britain, as part of his ongoing legal battle with the U.K. government over security for him and his family. Harry is currently involved in multiple legal disputes with the U.K. tabloid press, including allegations of phone hacking and unlawful gathering of information.