Nicki Minaj’s mother filed a lawsuit against the man accused of killing her husband in a murder last month.
Nicki’s father, 64, Robert Maraj, died on February 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 hit him allegedly fleeing the scene.
Charles Polevich, 70, later surrendered to the police in connection with the incident and was charged with two crimes, including leaving the scene of an incident involving the death of a person and tampering with or suppressing physical evidence.
And on Friday, Nicki’s now widowed mother, Carol Maraj, filed documents to sue Polevich at the state Supreme Court, where she asks for $ 150 million.
Side by side: Nicki Minaj’s mother (right), Carol Maraj (left), filed a lawsuit against the man accused of killing her husband in a murder last month.
The news was confirmed by his lawyers, Ben Crump and Paul Napoli. Crump wrote on Instagram: ‘Paul Napoli and I filed a $ 150 million lawsuit for the death of Robert Maraj, @nickiminaj’s father.
‘He was fatally injured in a hit-and-run accident on February 12, 2021, when he was hit by a car driven by Charles Polevich while Mr. Maraj was walking along a Long Island road. After reaching Maraj, Polevich left the accident site and did not call emergency services or provide assistance to Maraj.
‘He was not only irresponsible and negligent, but more concerned with running and hiding than seeking help.
“Polevich’s behavior was criminal, cowardly and immoral. We will hold you responsible for your reckless actions that led to the death of Robert Maraj! ‘
The suspect: Charles Polevich, 70, later surrendered himself to the police in connection with the incident and was charged with two crimes
According to the criminal complaint filed against Polevich, the man allegedly ran over Robert with his 1992 white Volvo and the police said he ‘then got out of the vehicle, stood over the victim, asked if’ he was okay ‘, walked and went back to the vehicle and fled the scene. ‘
The police also claim that Polevich drove to his home ‘avoiding intersections and hiding his vehicle in his individual garage’.
News of the lawsuit comes two days after Polevich turned himself in to the police and was arrested on Wednesday morning.
Maraj, 64, was killed on Friday in Mineola, Long Island, after being hit by a car heading north on Roslyn Road at the intersection with Raff Avenue, officials said.
The cat came out of the bag: The news was confirmed by her lawyers, Ben Crump and Paul Napoli – Crump made this post on Instagram
The Nassau County Police Department announced Polevich’s arrest during a morning press conference.
Polevich surrendered to the police after police tracked him down to his home in Mineola and found his damaged car in the garage.
Detective Lieutenant Stephen Fitzpatrick told reporters that Polveich was driving his 1992 white Volvo truck on Roslyn Road when it hit Maraj, who was walking on the road, possibly due to a snow accident on the sidewalk.
Polevich is photographed handcuffed after surrendering to Nassau County police on Wednesday morning, days after the fatal accident
Polevich, who spent a lot of time in Guam but has a house in Mineola, initially got out of the car, observed Maraj lying on the floor, got back behind the wheel and drove to his house, where he then parked his Volvo in the garage and covered everything, according with the police.
“He was absolutely aware of what happened,” said Fitzpatrick. ‘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 hid the vehicle, so he knows what he did.
Maraj was taken to a hospital, where the next day he succumbed to his injuries.
An undated photo shows Nicki Minaj with her father Robert Maraj, 64, whom she struggled to forgive after her difficult childhood.
Detectives used surveillance videos from the neighborhood to track the vehicle involved in the hit and run to Polevich’s house on block 160 of Roselle Street in Mineola.
The police then offered Polevich the opportunity to surrender at police headquarters.
He was accused of leaving the scene of a car accident and tampering with evidence.
Police said that if Polevich had remained on 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 the police are 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 is expected to return to court on Friday.
The accident occurred on Friday night at the intersection of Roslyn Street and Raff Avenue in Mineola, New York
Carol Maraj, Robert’s ex-wife, told the newspaper that 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 at the Guam-based environmental consulting firm he owned was sentenced to federal prison for stealing nearly $ 159,000 from his employer.
Polevich testified in court that his employee’s criminal actions nearly sank his small business.
Minaj, 38, has yet to speak publicly about her father’s death, but she had previously spoken about her difficult childhood and Robert’s drug abuse.
Minaj, 38, has yet to speak publicly about her father’s death, and her aide did not immediately respond to a telephone message from DailyMail.com on Tuesday
Their relationship had its difficulties, with Minaj accusing her father of being an abusive alcoholic and crack addict in her youth, but eight years ago she said he was trying to clean up his act.
– He’s still with my mom. He went to rehab and cleaned himself up. Eventually, they started going to church a lot, and he was saved and started to change his life, ‘she told the Guardian in 2012.’ He’s away from drugs now. He 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 also went by the name of Omar, sometimes attended events together, evidently 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 from Trinidad to the United States when she was five and raised Minaj in Jamaica, Queens.
She detailed domestic violence in her childhood home – including an incident in which he tried to set her house on fire – and how her father used crack.
Minaj’s father Robert and his mother Carol are photographed together in 2013
In a 2015 interview with the New York Times, Minaj said she was never personally physically abused by her father.
‘No. He was just abusive, ‘she said. “I always heard him screaming and cursing, always. And it made me feel that it was the way to interact, because that was how I saw him interacting. ‘
In 2010, she told Details magazine about how Maraj was supposed to be abusive to his mother, his wife Carol.
‘He drank a lot and used drugs, and became violent when he did. When he set the house on fire, he was trying to kill my mother, ‘she said at the time.
– She left before it burned all the way. I always had this female empowerment thing on my mind – because I wanted my mom to be stronger, and she couldn’t be. I thought, ‘If I succeed, I can change her life.’
Carol Maraj launched her own music career, as well as a charitable foundation dedicated to supporting victims of domestic violence.
Maraj was walking on a road in Mineola around 6pm on Friday when he was hit by a car heading north on Roslyn Road, at the intersection with Raff Avenue (photo)
Robert Maraj admitted to having anger problems, but said in a 2012 interview with TMZ that his daughter’s account of his behavior was “exaggerated”.
The family had already gone through a difficult year after Minaj’s brother, Jelani Maraj, was sentenced to life in prison in January 2020 for raping an 11-year-old child.
Jelani, 41, was found guilty of ‘predatory sexual assault on a child and jeopardizing a child’s well-being’ in 2017 and last year, Nassau County Supreme Court judge Robert McDonald refused to give you a soft sentence.
Although his lawyer read a 2016 letter that his famous sister wrote in an attempt to cut 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’.