Charles Polevich, a 70-year-old man has been arrested on Wednesday over the hit-and-run death of Nicki Minaj‘s father, Robert Maraj. The offender was detained after turning himself in, Detective Lieutenant Stephen Fitzpatrick of the New York City Police Department said on Wednesday.
Robert Maraj was walking in the road when he was hit by a vehicle travelling in the same direction. According to the police, Polevich stopped briefly to ask the injured man if he was OK but didn’t call for help.
Polevich faces charges of leaving the scene of an incident and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the death of Robert Maraj on New York’s Long Island.
Polevich, who splits time between Long Island and Guam, where he runs an environmental consulting business, is free on bail following an arraignment in Nassau County court. As a result of his arrest, his driver’s license has been suspended, he was ordered to surrender his passport and a judge said he can’t leave the state.
Polevich’s lawyer, Michael Scotto, described what happened as a tragic accident and said their thoughts were with Maraj’s family. Polevich surrendered Wednesday after detectives used pieces of surveillance video to track the car involved in the crash — a white, 1992 Volvo station wagon — to Polevich’s Mineola home, Fitzpatrick said.
Nicki Minaj was born Onika Tanya Maraj in Trinidad and was raised in the New York City borough of Queens. She has not made any public statement about her father’s death.