The man convicted of killing eight people with a truck on a Manhattan bike path in 2017 has received 10 life sentences, plus another 260 years in prison, the Associated Press reports.
A judge handed the sentence down to Sayfullo Saipov on Wednesday, months after he was found guilty of carrying out the deadly October 2017 attack.
The same jurors who found Saipov guilty on all charges were tasked with deciding whether he should face the death penalty or life in prison. Those jurors could not unanimously decide on a death sentence for him in March, setting him up for an automatic life sentence.
What You Need To Know
- A federal judge in Manhattan sentenced the convicted terrorist attacker, Sayfullo Saipov, to 10 life sentences, plus an additional 260 years in prison, after he killed eight people in 2017 when he drove a truck on a New York City bike path
- Victims of the Halloween terror attack along the West Side Highway bike path and their family members gave victim impact statements Wednesday, which detailed all of the ways Saipov destroyed their lives
- Five of the eight people who were killed were from Argentina and had taken a group trip to celebrate their 30th high school anniversary. Two of those killed were from America and one woman was from Belgium
Prosecutors said Saipov drove a rented truck down a bike path on the West Side Highway on Oct. 31, 2017, killing eight people and injuring a dozen others in an attack motivated by Islamic extremism.
The New Jersey resident had planned to continue his rampage, but an NYPD officer shot him before he could reach the Brooklyn Bridge, according to prosecutors.
Victims of the attack and their family members, one after the other Wednesday, told Saipov that his action destroyed their lives.
“It’s five and a half years,” said Aristide Melissas. “I have headaches. I have dis-balances. I’m doing my best to help my wife. But sometimes it’s difficult.”
Melissas was visiting New York City from Belgium with his wife, son and nephew on October 31, 2017 when Saipov, originally from Uzbekistan, drove a rental truck on the Westside Highway bike path, killing eight people and injuring 18 others.
Melissas and his son were critically injured while his wife, Marion Van Reeth, had both legs amputated.
They are among those who read victim impact statements to Saipov Wednesday.
“He doesn’t react at all, so what can we say? But I think everybody agrees he did the wrong thing, and he didn’t achieve anything. Just being imprisoned and life from in prison,” said Melissas’ wife, Marion Van Reeth.
The judge followed the prosecution’s recommendations due to what he called the “sheer unrepentant nature of the defendant.”
“In reference to what he did and what he committed is I believe a fair justice,” Melissas said.
A jury convicted Saipov in the terror attack but could not come to a unanimous decision on the death penalty, which means he will serve life in prison. He spoke to the courtroom for about an hour Wednesday, referencing the Quran and Sharia law without offering an apology to the victims.
Rachel Phalm, who was also injured, was one of the few people Saipov did look in the eye during the court proceedings Wednesday.
“It shows me that, even if he may not admit it, he does feel some empathy,” Phalm said. “Maybe he’s just deluded himself into acting because maybe his existence or what he’s done it’s too painful to acknowledge or admit.”
Despite Saipov’s lack of remorse, Melissas said he has forgiven him.
“It may sound astonishing but I cannot be in anger, I cannot be in rage,” Melissas said.
During the trial, relatives of Saipov testified that they were also traumatized by his actions, brokenhearted and ashamed of him.
Prosecutors seeking the death penalty for Saipov maintained he showed “no remorse” after the attack. His defense attorney, meanwhile, urged the jury to spare him a death sentence, saying they should “not be like him.”
While Saipov carried out the attack in an effort to join ISIS, he had never been in contact with the terrorist organization, prosecutors said.