Jury Convicts NYC Man of Kidnapping Wife And Leading Cops On High-Speed Chase

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Yaspal Persaud, 28, has been convicted for kidnapping and other crimes by a jury for accosting his estranged wife at her job, forcing the 30-year-old woman into his vehicle and driving away with her in front on stunned onlookers. The defendant led police on a multi-county, high-speed chase before he was found that evening with the victim at a Howard Beach motel in January 2021.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said, “The defendant’s criminal actions made his estranged wife fear for her life as she was forcibly dragged from her place of business and taken to a motel against her will, despite having an order of protection in effect against her husband—which was issued a month earlier at our request after he strangled her and caused her to pass out at least three times in their Little Neck home. Domestic violence is not acceptable in any form, and my Office will continue to hold accountable those who choose to inflict physical harm and mental trauma on their intimate partners. A jury has now found this defendant guilty of serious crimes and he faces significant prison time at sentencing.”

Persaud, of 58th Avenue in Little Neck, Queens, was convicted by a jury following a nine-day trial Thursday before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinsky on charges of kidnapping in the second degree, strangulation, criminal contempt in the first degree and harassment in the second degree. Judge Yavinsky ordered the defendant to return to Court on September 15, 2022. Persaud faces up to 32 years in prison at sentencing.

According to the charges, said District Attorney Katz, on the morning of December 24, 2020, officers were conducted a wellness check at the Persaud residence in Little Neck upon the request of the mother of the victim who is his estranged wife. Police officers arrested the defendant when they learned he had repeatedly strangled the victim the previous night when she told him she was leaving him. Police arrested Persaud. Consequently, an order of protection was issued on his estranged wife’s behalf.

Continuing, on the morning of January 22, 2021, the defendant waited in the parking lot of a CityMD office on Northern Boulevard near 192nd Street where the victim worked and waylaid the woman as she arrived. In front of several people waiting to enter the medical office, the defendant confronted the victim as she walked to the front door with her office key. In violation of a prior order of protection, the defendant grabbed the victim and pushed her back to his vehicle. The defendant pushed the victim into the backseat of his car then attempted to close the car door while the victim repeatedly kicked it open. The defendant drove away with the victim’s legs hanging out of the car door still ajar.

According to court testimony, the defendant drove around in his black Mercedes-Benz for several hours with the victim in his car. The NYPD’s Technical Assistance Response Unit was able to track the vehicle near the Grand Central Parkway at approximately 12 p.m. The defendant led the detectives on a high-speed pursuit and eventually evaded apprehension. According to testimony, the defendant then ditched the Mercedes-Benz and had a friend drive him and the victim to Surfside Motel on Cross Bay Boulevard and 165th Avenue. TARU detectives tracked the cellphones of the defendant and the victim to the Howard Beach motel and detectives from the 111th Precinct then rescued the victim and arrested the defendant.


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