Internal Affairs Now Probing Police Role in SI Hit-and-Run

The Staten Island hit-and-run case last weekend that left a couple dead has been reopened after evidence surfaced that police were chasing down the black Mercedes driven by Theodore Ricks before he ran into the livery cab where Mohamed Elnahal and Mervat Saad Ibrahim lost their lives. The NYPD had twice denied that Internal Affairs was involved with any investigation, but now have confirmed that such a probe is under way.

SI Advance obtained a video that appears to show a police van with lights flashing speeding after Ricks's vehicle, which they may have been flagging down due to windows that were tinted too darkly.

A witness on the street had originally told reporters that he had seen the police van trailing the Mercedes, but the NYPD had vehemently denied any chase throughout the week. The last statement from a police spokesman after the video surfaces said, "At no time was this vehicle pursued. On Jackson (where the video was taken), whether this was another vehicle, we don't know."

A lawyer that is representing the twin boys who were orphaned as a result of the crash called the idea of a second black sedan being in the same area followed by police an unbelievable coincidence. He said that a lawsuit is likely.