About
Ryo Oyamada was a Japanese student who was studying English in Manhattan. He was struck and killed by a NYPD patrol car in Queensbridge on February 21st 2013. The patrol car struck Ryo very hard and his life was taken away instantly at the crash site. Ryo’s family flew into New York shortly after the accident. During their stay, they had a chance to talk to both the NYPD and some of the witnesses of the accident. From their stories, they found contradictions between the police’s explanation and the eyewitnesses’ explanation, including whether the lights and siren were on and how fast the police vehicle was traveling. (Read more details here.)
The Oyamadas requested to release the results of an internal investigation, including the surveillance video. However, they never got their request. They had no choice but to sue the NYPD and the City of New York to reveal how Ryo died. Since then, the painful process for the family started, especially through living in Japan, the other side of the world. (Read this article to learn more about details of their claim.)
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These are what the court filings or Oyamada's lawyer suggest. (Quotes from Gothamist article)
The below is the NYCHA video. (Read the Gothamist article to learn more about details.)
- "Court filings suggest that Officer Ilardi had a poor driving record, and that the NYPD had failed to retrain or discipline him for it."
- "The NYPD failed to properly investigate the crash." "Officers responding to the scene dispersed all eyewitnesses, failed to measure skid marks, and did not check Ilardi's cell phone records to determine if he was using his phone when he struck, according to the lawsuit."
- "When Officer Ilardi and his partner were interviewed by the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau shortly after the collision, they were set about changing the testimony of the sole remaining known eyewitness to the crash other than Ilardi—Ilardi's partner, Police Officer Carman,"
- "Pausing the (NYCHA) video at several points appears to show that the cruiser's flashing lights were not on, which is contrary to informal NYPD statements." " NYPD representatives's explanation to "Oyamada's father, the NY Times, and a local community meeting that Officer Ilardi was responding to a 911 call and had his flashing lights on while driving down 40th Avenue.”
- ”Radio transcripts and other evidence provided by the City suggest that Officer Ilardi was not assigned to the knife disturbance, nor did he tell anyone he was responding to an emergency. In fact, two other NYPD units had already been assigned to the call.”
- "The videos were received in highly edited form and have time-stamps that are likely incorrect." "The most striking aspect of the video released by NYCHA may be what it omits."
The below is the NYCHA video. (Read the Gothamist article to learn more about details.)
About Ryo Oyamada
Ryo started his life in New York in November 2012. He was originally from the Kagawa Prefecture in Japan. He was only 24 years old when he was killed. He wanted to make a humanitarian effort and work for others when he returned to Japan. To do that, he was studying very hard in school. (To learn more about Ryo and his family/friends, read the article about his funeral.)
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Ryo loved New York. He enjoyed every moment of his experience living there. He left us many energetic pictures. (See Ryo’s pictures from No subway pants ride day here.) He also built great relationships with people around him. His landlord still takes care of Ryo’s accident site daily, (See the picture of Ryo’s accident site here.) and his friends still care about Ryo and his family. (Read about Ryo’s birthday in 2013 here.)
This site is created to gather the thoughts of Ryo and his family by sharing the information of the accident. We appreciate if you write to politicians to show support for a fair investigation. (Please read this article for more details. Click here for the contact form for Mayor Bill de Blasio.)
Blog Index
About Ryo’s case
The NYPD related articles
- Overview of the media release of the accident
- The Oyamada family sues NYC
- What we can do
- Ryo’s funeral
- Six month anniversary
- Photos from New York
- The patrol car that hit Ryo (FNN News)
- Update; Ryo’s case (Nov, 2013)
- Ryo’s Birthday
- No Pants Subway Ride
- First Anniversary of Ryo's Death
- New Lawyer
- Letter from Ryo's mother
- Painting Memorial by Right of Way
- Police cover-up after killing Ryo
- A petition for investigation into Ryo Oyamada's Death
- Light of Way
- Petition
- The DMV has agreed to hold a hearing
- Ryo's second memorial service
- An innocent pedestrian killed by NYPD again
- Two years anniversary of Mathieu Lefevre’s death
- Families for SAFE Street
- Petition for safe speed limit
The NYPD related articles