Harry, Meghan Chase Described as 'Very Chaotic'

While accounts differ widely on how "near catastrophic" the Tuesday night paparazzi pursuit of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was, New York City Mayor Eric Adams says photographers need to be more responsible. The mayor said Wednesday that the "reckless and irresponsible" chase through Manhattan streets was reminiscent of the events leading up to Princess Diana's death in a 1997 crash, CBS reports. "I don't think there's many of us, who don't recall how his mom died," the mayor said. "And it would be horrific to lose an innocent bystander during a chase like this and something to have happened to them as well." He said he found it hard to believe the claim that a high-speed chase lasted two hours, as the couple's spokesperson said, but even "a 10-minute chase is extremely dangerous."

• Chris Sanchez, a member of the couple's security team, tells CNN that a swarm of photographers chased the couple and Meghan's mother after they left the Women of Vision Awards. "I have never seen, experienced anything like this. What we were dealing with was very chaotic," he says. "There were about a dozen vehicles: cars, scooters, and bicycles." Sanchez says the public "were in jeopardy at several points. It could have been fatal. They were jumping curbs and red lights." The NYPD, which assisted the security team, said Wednesday that photographers made the transport "challenging" but there were no collisions, injuries, or arrests.
• In a statement, celebrity news agency Backgrid USA said photographers "had no intention of causing any distress or harm" and it was an SUV from the couple's security detail that was driving "in a way that could be perceived as reckless," the Telegraph reports.
• At one point, the group went to a police station but the pursuit continued after they left in a taxi. Taxi driver Sukhcharn Singh tells the Washington Post that the trio and a security guard hailed his cab outside the NYPD's 19th police precinct but they ended up driving back to the station because the guard was concerned by two cars in pursuit. "I never felt like I was in danger. It wasn’t like a car chase in a movie," he says. "They were quiet and seemed scared but it’s New York—it’s safe." He tells CNN that the ride lasted around 10 minutes. He says the fare was $17.50 but and Harry and Meghan gave him $50.
• Sources tell the New York Post that after they were brought back to the station, the group made their own way to where they were staying, around two blocks away.

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