Prince Harry and Meghan chase: Cabbie, officials say it was chaotic but not ‘near catastrophic’

Prince Harry, Meghan and her mother were involved in a “near catastrophic car chase” involving “highly aggressive” paparazzi, it was claimed yesterday.

The incident was said to have happened after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended an awards ceremony with Doria Ragland in New York on Tuesday.

The couple’s spokesman said the “relentless pursuit” lasted more than two hours and involved “multiple near collisions” involving other drivers, pedestrians and two police officers.

Alluding to the incident that claimed the life of Harry’s mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, the spokesman said: “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.

“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.”

One of the couple’s bodyguards, Chris Sanchez, told CNN he had “never experienced anything like this”.

Mr Sanchez, a former Secret Service officer, said there were “about a dozen cars, bikes and scooters” involved in “chaotic” scenes, adding that members of the public “were in jeopardy at several points” and that “it could have been fatal”.

The Sussexes’ spokesman added: “Dissemination of these images, given how they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all involved.”

But New York police officials told US broadcaster NBC that they did not believe the chase was “near catastrophic”.

They described it as a “bit of a chaotic scene”.

Julian Phillips, deputy commissioner of public information in New York, also revealed that the NYPD “assisted” the couple’s private security team.

He said while the “numerous” photographers’ behaviour was “challenging”, the duke and duchess “arrived at their destination, and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard”.

New York mayor Eric Adams described the actions of the paparazzi as “reckless” and “irresponsible” but said he would find it “hard to believe” there was a two-hour high-speed chase.

Mr Adams said: “Two of our officers could have been injured.

“You shouldn’t be speeding anywhere, but this city is densely populated. I don’t think many of us don’t recall how his mum died, and it would be horrific to lose an innocent bystander during a chase like this and something to have happened to them as well.”

The prince is involved in two High Court battles with the Home Office over its decision to deny him police bodyguards when he acrimoniously quit as a working royal. In a recent interview, he also said that he and his family left the UK to escape media attention.

There is very little in the way of laws or regulations controlling the media’s behaviour in the US as in Britain.

The family had flown to New York for Meghan, 41, to attend a glitzy gala dinner where she was given a Ms Foundation “Women of Vision” award.

The couple arrived at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Manhattan in a trio of SUVs and an NYPD police escort.

They were accompanied by several private security guards, headed by Harry’s former chief Metropolitan Police protection officer, who has moved to the US to manage his security arrangements since leaving the force.

A crowd — including photographers — had gathered at the lowkey rear entrance used by the trio, which took them via a Hertz rental car desk into a parking lot under the theatre.

According to witnesses, several photographers were still present when they left, some of whom set off in pursuit of their car.

Sources close to the couple suggested that up to six “blacked-out” vehicles were involved, driving on the pavement, going through red lights, reversing down a one-way street, and driving while photographing and blocking a moving car.

Writing on Twitter, the couple’s biographer, Omid Scobie, claimed the chase “could have been fatal” and that Harry, Meghan and Doria are “understandably shaken but thankful everyone’s safe”.

Sky News later broadcast “reportable guidance” from two “senior law enforcement officials” in New York — who had spoken to their sister channel in the US, NBC — which it said, “did not square with the version first put out by Harry and Meghan”.

The officials said the couple left the awards ceremony with their private security officials and an NYPD vehicle.

But because they did not want photographers to find out where they were staying — at a friend’s house on the city’s Upper East Side — they embarked on a winding drive across Manhattan for about 75 minutes.

They then stopped at the 19th Precinct police station, where they remained for 15 minutes before switching into a different car, a yellow New York City taxi.

The officials described it as a “bit of a chaotic scene” but added that they “do not believe it was near catastrophic”.

In an interview with the Washington Post, taxi driver Sukhcharn Singh said he picked the group up at the police station at 11pm on Tuesday and drove them briefly.

According to his account, a couple’s security guards waved him down and asked: “Do you want a fare?”

With Harry, Meghan and Mrs Ragland in the back and a security guard in the front, Mr Singh said two vehicles followed them for a short distance, adding: “They kept following us and were coming next to the car. They took pictures as we stopped and were filming us.”

After a few minutes, Mr Singh said, the bodyguard grew concerned about the photographers and asked him to return to the police station.

The security officer said they were “too exposed” and didn’t want their location shared “more widely”.

Mr Singh added of the ten-minute journey: “I don’t think I would call it a chase. 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.”

Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris while being chased by photographers in 1997.

In an interview with the BBC for the documentary Diana, 7 Days, Harry referred to the paparazzi as “a pack of dogs”.