The driving force within the hit-and-run crash that killed Nicki Minaj’s dad on Lengthy Island was sentenced to at least one 12 months behind bars Wednesday — devastating his grieving widow, who known as the punishment “a slap within the face.”
Nassau County Choose Howard Sturim handed down the county jail time to Charles Polevich, a 72-year-old businessman who admitted to placing Robert Maraj and leaving him on the aspect of a highway in Mineola in February 2021.
“One 12 months? That’s a slap within the face for the household,” the hip hop star’s mother, Carol Maraj, instructed the decide. “[He] simply left him on a road like a canine.”
Polevich — who pleaded responsible to leaving the scene of an accident inflicting dying and tampering with proof — was additionally fined $5,000, and had his driver’s license suspended for six months.
The decide reprimanded Polevich for his “chilly and callous response” to hitting Maraj, a 64-year-old electrician, and stated “the criminality right here was a results of the defendant leaving the scene.”
However the gentle sentencing got here as a result of Polevich had no prior prison historical past and wasn’t underneath the affect of medication or alcohol, stated Sturim. He added that “his criminality… was not the reason for dying.”
Prosecutors in had beneficial a sentence of 1 to a few years. Polevich will seemingly find yourself serving a diminished sentence of eight months, stated his lawyer Marc Gann.
“Your Honor, that is is just not a very good citizen in my eyes,” Carol Maraj stated. “He checked out him and left him [on the roadside]. Is that a good citizen?”
Outdoors the courtroom, Maraj instructed reporters her partner had been packed and able to fly to California to see “his latest grandson” — Nicki Minaj’s then 1-year-old — on the day he was killed.
“She has been very, very unhappy,” Maraj stated of her daughter.
Sporting glasses and a somber expression, Polevich additionally spoke in court docket, providing his “sincerest apologies” to the sufferer’s household.
“I really feel deep unhappiness and regret for the lack of Robert Maraj’s life.
“I really feel compassion for his spouse, Mrs. Maraj and [his] household. I had no malicious intent,” he stated. “I utterly settle for accountability for my actions.”
After the crash final 12 months, Polevich acquired out of his automobile and requested Maraj if he was okay earlier than strolling again into his 1992 Volvo and driving away with out calling 911, in line with the prison grievance.
He drove dwelling and parked the automobile in his storage and lined it with tarp.
Polevich’s legal professional stated after the listening to that the post-mortem report confirmed Maraj had alcohol in his system when he died.
“I don’t need to disparage anyone however there have been substances within the post-mortem report that Mr. Maraj seems to have been underneath the affect of on the time of the accident,” Gann instructed The Submit, including, “I’m not saying that minimizes Mr. Polevich’s prison conduct or prison accountability.”
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