Rapper Nicki Minaj’s mother, Carol Maraj, has filed a $ 150 million lawsuit against the man accused of killing Minaj’s father in a hit-and-run accident, Maraj said.
Charles Polevich, 70, is accused of beating Robert Maraj, 64, on Long Island on Feb. 12 and driving away without turning 911. Maraj died in a hospital the next day.
Polevich was arrested on February 17 on a charge of leaving the scene of an incident and tampering with physical evidence. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bail and ordered not to leave New York State.
Newsday reported that Carol Maraj’s lawsuit, filed in the Nassau County High Court earlier this month, alleges Polevich was negligent, reckless and indifferent when he hit Maraj with his car and allegedly left him at the scene.
“He was not only irresponsible and negligent, but was more concerned about running away and hiding than seeking help,” said Benjamin Crump, the lawyer known for his work in civil rights and with families of victims of policy cruelty, who told Carol Maraj represented, in an Instagram post on Friday.
Polevich’s lawyer, who is listed in online court records as Marc Gann of Mineola, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nicki Minaj, born Onika Tanya Maraj, made no public statement about her father’s death.
Carol Maraj, the victim’s estranged wife, told Newsday she was “very, very, very happy” about Polevich’s arrest and said all of Maraj’s children were “happy” that the alleged culprit had been caught.