A Mineola man has been indicted in the hit-and-run death of rapper Nicki Minaj’s father.
Charles Polevich, 70, is charged with leaving the scene of an auto accident with a fatality and tampering with evidence, according to court documents.
The mother of rapper Nicki Minaj filed a $150 million lawsuit against Polevich after the accident earlier in the year, according to a previous statement by an attorney representing her.
Minaj’s father, Robert Maraj, died after a hit-and-run accident on Roslyn Road in Mineola on Feb 12. A few days after his death, officials from the Nassau County Police Department arrested Polevich, who allegedly hit Maraj with his white 1992 Volvo station wagon.
Officials said Polevich initially stopped after hitting Maraj before he fled the scene and left Maraj on the side of the road. Maraj was taken to a local hospital, where he was initially listed in critical condition, according to the police.
Court records said that before leaving the scene Polevich allegedly asked Maraj about his well-being while lying on the road.
In several interviews, Minaj, whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj, said her father displayed various forms of abuse, ranging from drugs and alcohol to setting her childhood house on fire while her mother was still inside in Jamaica, Queens.
“It’s the price you pay when you abuse drugs and alcohol,” Minaj said in a 2010 Rolling Stone interview. “Maybe one day your daughter will be famous and talk to every magazine about it, so think about that, dads out there who want to be crazy.”
Minaj said she was not physically abused by her father in a 2015 interview with The New York Times, but said his actions caused emotional harm to her and her mother.
“I would always hear him yelling and cursing, always,” Minaj told The Times. “And it made me feel it was the way to interact, because that’s how I saw him interacting.’’
