On November 10th, 2018 at approximately 3:30 AM, Steven Goddard (22) and his girlfriend, Amy Gutierrez (20), were killed while riding a motorbike in Queens. According to the official police report, the couple was traveling westbound through the Sunnyside neighborhood when they turned the wrong way down a one-way street and struck a van at the corner of 43rd Avenue and 38th street. Goddard and Gutierrez were subsequently transported to Elmhurst Hospital by ambulance and pronounced dead shortly after their arrival. The driver of the van was not injured and refused medical attention. No arrests were made.
The NYPD offered no explanation as to why the young couple was traveling the wrong way down 43rd Avenue in the moments preceding the accident. This was uncharacteristic for Goddard, a stagehand at NBC with a bright future and a loving girlfriend. But with no evidence of foul play, local news broke the story as a senseless accident, and initial footage of the collision offered no additional clues into the accident.
More than two years later, the truth has come out and, along with it, evidence of an unconscionable cover-up by the NYPD. In a lawsuit filed by Halperin & Halperin, P.C. and the Law Offices of Fred B. Lichtmacher, P.C. on behalf of the Goddard family, disturbing new evidence establishes that two NYPD officers from the 108th Precinct were engaged in an unjustified, unwarranted and deadly high-speed pursuit of the couple when the grisly accident occurred. And amplifying their misconduct, the officers never reported the pursuit and subsequently fled the scene instead of calling medical personnel or reporting what had happened, abandoning the couple in the cold and rainy street.
In a recent court filing prompted by this new evidence, the New York City Law Department identified the officers as Andrew Diaz and Oscar Lopez of NYPD’s 108th Precinct and disclosed an ongoing investigation into the matter. The plaintiff’s legal team, led by attorneys Fred B. Lichtmacher and Steven T. Halperin have since amended their lawsuit to name Police Officers Diaz and Lopez as defendants, and a jury trial is being demanded in federal court.
Between the three defendants, Diaz, Lopez, and The City of New York, this lawsuit seeks not less than 6 million dollars in compensatory damages for due process violations, denial of medical care, negligence, and wrongful death. While no amount of money will make up for the death of Goddard, justice is still attainable for his loved ones, and our attorneys intend to deliver it.
