New video contradicts officers account of deadly collision with motorcycle

NEW YORK (WABC) -- There is new video of a crash in the Bronx that killed a motorcyclist and injured his passenger.

The video reveals an NYPD car rear-ending a motorcycle, and contradicts what the officers said about how the crash happened.

Leonel Cuevas suffered brain damage and a broken back. A passenger on the back of a motorbike, pursued and apparently struck from behind an NYPD patrol car.

His friend, Ronald Herrera, who was driving the motorbike, was killed.

"They're supposed to pull off of a pursuit if the danger to the people they're pursuing outweighs the risk to the community," said the victim's attorney, Scott Rynecki.

Rynecki, who represents the Cuevas family, says what's more is that the officers pursuing the motorbike lied about how the crash actually happened, claiming in different statements that the motorbike tried to overtake the patrol car, or that "the dirt bike unexpectedly swerved in front of me".

And claiming the car's flashing turret lights were turned on, when the video clearly contradicts that.

Speaking in Spanish, Cuevas's father accused police of trying to cover up the cause of the crash.

"I believe it was a safe pursuit," said an internal affairs investigator. "I believe it was a culpability of the dirt bike rider and also the double-parked vehicles."

The family admits Cuevas and his friend should not have been riding the motorbike. But their attorney insists it hardly matters.

"For at least four car lengths, this police vehicle was right on top of this dirt bike," said Rynecki. "There was no swerving of the dirt bike. The sentence for driving an illegal dirt bike isn't death. The sentence for driving an illegal dirt bike isn't being maimed for life."