Nicki Minaj’s mother has filed a lawsuit against the man accused of killing her husband in a hit last month.
Nicki’s father, Robert Maraj, 64, died Feb. 12 when he was hit by a car between Roslyn Road and Raff Avenue in Nassau County, New York, with the driver of the vehicle that allegedly attacked him fleeing. of the place.
Charles Polevich, 70, later turned himself in to police in connection with the incident and was charged with two misdemeanors, including leaving the scene of an incident related to the death of a person, manipulation or the suppression of physical evidence.
And on Friday, Nicki’s now-widowed mother, Carol Maraj, filed documents to sue Polevich in the state Supreme Court, where she is seeking $ 150 million.
Side by side: Nicki Minaj’s mother (right), Carol Maraj (left), has filed a lawsuit against the man accused of murdering her husband last month after being run over
The news was confirmed by his lawyers, Ben Crump and Paul Napoli. Crump wrote on Instagram: “Paul Napoli and I have filed a $ 150 million lawsuit over the death of Robert Maraj, the father of @nickiminaj.
“He was fatally injured in a car accident on February 12, 2021, when he was hit by a car driven by Charles Polevich while Mr. Maraj was walking on a Long Island road. After hitting Maraj, Polevich left the scene. of the accident and did not call the emergency services or give help to Maraj.
“Not only was he irresponsible and negligent, but he was more concerned with running away and hiding than seeking help.
“Polevich’s behavior was criminal, cowardly and immoral. We will hold him responsible for his reckless actions that led to the death of Robert Maraj!
The suspect: Charles Polevich, 70, later turned himself in to police in connection with the incident and was charged with two felonies
According to the criminal complaint filed against Polevich, the man allegedly hit Robert with his 1992 white Volvo and police said “then he got out of his vehicle, got on top of the victim, asked him if” he was okay, ”he walked back to his vehicle and fled the scene.
Police also alleged that Polevich drove home “avoiding intersections and hid his vehicle in the garage independent of his residence.”
The news of the lawsuit comes two days after Polevich turned himself in to police and was arrested Wednesday morning.
Maraj, 64, died Friday in Mineola, Long Island, after being hit by a car heading north on Roslyn Road at the intersection with Raff Avenue, authorities said.
Cat is out of the bag: the news was confirmed by his lawyers, Ben Crump and Paul Napoli. Crump posted this post on Instagram
The Nassau County Police Department announced Polevich’s arrest during a press conference in the morning.
Polevich surrendered to police after officers tracked him to his home in Mineola and found the damaged car in the garage.
Detective Lieutenant Stephen Fitzpatrick told reporters that Polveich was driving his 1992 white Volvo van heading north on Roslyn Road when he hit Maraj, who was walking down the road, possibly due to piles of snow on the sidewalk.
Polevich appears handcuffed after surrendering to Nassau County police on Wednesday morning, days after the fatal crash
Polevich, who spent a lot of time in Guam but has a house in Mineola, initially got out of his car, watched Maraj lying on the ground, then got behind the wheel and drove to his home, where he parked his Volvo in the garage and covered it, according to police.
“He was absolutely aware of what happened,” Fitzpatrick said. He looked at the deceased and made the conscious decision to leave instead of dialing 911, instead of calling an ambulance for the man. He went home and secreted the vehicle, so he is well aware of what he did.
Maraj was taken to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries the next day.
An undated photo shows Nicki Minaj with her father Robert Maraj, 64, whom she struggled to forgive after her difficult childhood
Detectives used a surveillance video from the neighborhood to track the vehicle involved in the collision at Polevich’s home on 160 block Roselle Street in Mineola.
Officers offered Polevich a chance to surrender at police headquarters.
He was accused of leaving the scene of a car accident and manipulating evidence.
Police said that if Polevich had stayed at the scene and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time, he would have avoided criminal charges.
Fitzpatrick told reporters that police have been in constant communication with Maraj’s family.
On Wednesday, a judge set Polevich’s bail at $ 250,000, suspended his driver’s license and ordered him to hand over his passport, Newsday reported. He has to return to court on Friday.
The crash occurred Friday evening at the intersection of Roslyn Street and Raff Avenue in Mineola, New York.
Carol Maraj, Robert’s estranged wife, told the newspaper she was “very, very, very happy” with Polevich’s arrest.
Polevich has no criminal record. His name appeared in an article published by Pacific Daily News in June 2016, when a former accountant for the Guam-based environmental consulting firm was sentenced to federal prison for stealing about $ 159,000 from his employer.
Polevich testified before the courts that the criminal actions of his staff almost caused his small business to go bad.
Minaj, 38, has not yet publicly spoken out about his father’s death, but has previously spoken about his difficult childhood and Robert’s substance abuse.
Minaj, 38, has yet to make a public statement about his father’s death and his publicist did not immediately respond to a DailyMail.com phone message Tuesday
Their relationship had its difficulties, with Minaj accusing his father of being an alcoholic and crack addict in his youth, but eight years ago he said he was trying to clean up his act.
She is still with my mother. He went to rehab and cleaned up. Eventually, they started going to church a lot, and he was saved and started to change his life, “he told the Guardian in 2012.” He is now away from drugs. It no longer instills fear in people.
The family has rarely mentioned Maraj in recent years and his relationship with Minaj and his mother Carol at the time of his death was not immediately clear.
The photos show that Minaj and her father, who was also called Omar, attended events together sometimes, obviously trying to fix things.
Minaj, born Onika Tanya Maraj in Trinidad and raised in New York City, has talked about her relationship with her father on several occasions, often posting photos of the couple sharing loving hugs on social media.
Her parents moved to the United States from Trinidad when she was five years old and raised Minaj in Jamaica, Queens.
She has detailed domestic violence in her kindergarten (including an incident in which she tried to burn down her home) and how her father would consume crack cocaine.
Minaj’s father, Robert, and mother Carol appear together in 2013
In a 2015 interview with the New York Times, Minaj said she was never physically abused by her father.
‘No. It was just abusive, “he said.” I would always hear him scream and curse, always. And it made me feel like it was the way to interact, because that’s how I saw him interact. “
In 2010 he told Details magazine that Maraj allegedly abused his mother, his wife Carol.
He drank a lot and took drugs and when he did, he would get violent. When the house caught fire, I was trying to kill my mother, ”he said at the time.
It came out before it burned to the end. I’ve always had this issue of female empowerment behind my mind, because I wanted my mother to be stronger and she couldn’t be. I thought, “If I’m successful, I can change your life.”
Carol Maraj has started her own music career as well as a charity foundation dedicated to supporting victims of domestic abuse.
Maraj was walking down a Mineola highway around 6 p.m. Friday, when he was hit by a car heading north on Roslyn Road at the intersection with Raff Avenue (pictured).
Robert Maraj had admitted to having anger issues, but said in a 2012 interview with TMZ that his daughter’s account of her behavior was “exaggerated.”
The family had already had a tough year, after Minaj’s brother, Jelani Maraj, was sentenced to life in prison in January 2020 for raping an 11-year-old boy.
Jelani, 41, was found guilty of “predatory sexual assault on a child and endangering a child’s welfare” in 2017 and last year, Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Robert McDonald, refused to issue a soft sentence.
It was despite his lawyer reading a 2016 letter his famous sister wrote to try to cut back on his time behind bars, calling him the most patient, kind, genuine and selfless man I know.
The judge said his “opinion is that you ruined this child.”