NY Bike Path Terrorist Gets Life Sentence

Justice Served: Sayfullo Saipov Sentenced to Life in Prison for 2017 Terrorist Attack

A Mother’s Pain

Monica Missio, the mother of victim Nicholas Cleves, spoke in a hushed courtroom on Wednesday, expressing that no punishment could compare to the pain caused by the man who killed her son. Sayfullo Saipov was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2017 terrorist attack in Manhattan that killed eight people and injured 12.

“This evil murderer has destroyed so many lives,” Missio said. “His barbarism and cruelty fills me with rage.”

Victims Speak Out

More than 20 victims and family members spoke before U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick formally sentenced Saipov to eight consecutive life sentences and an additional 260 years in prison. The life sentence became automatic after a jury deadlocked on whether Saipov should receive the death penalty.

Rachel Pharn, who survived the attack, said she wanted to know what had motivated Saipov.

“Mr. Saipov, I can forgive you for what you did to me, for breaking my spirit,” Pharn said. “But when I look around the room, when I think of all the pain you caused, that I cannot forgive. That is between you, them and Allah.”

The Unrepentant Defendant

Addressing the court before sentencing, a remorseless Saipov appeared to praise Islamic State and suggested his victims suffered less than Muslims around the world.

“I was here in the court during the three-month trial, and I saw and I heard the victims, families and friends,” he said through an interpreter. “The court would be filled up with the tears and blood of the Muslim population.”

Justice Served

Saipov used a Home Depot rental truck to cut down people on a path along the Hudson River on Manhattan’s West Side. He had hoped the attack would help him gain membership in Islamic State, or ISIS, prosecutors said. The United States designates ISIS as a terrorist organization.

“The conduct in this case is among the worst if not the worst I’ve ever seen, both in terms of the impact it had on the victims and on the sheer unrepentant nature of the defendant,” the judge said before pronouncing Saipov’s sentence.

Many of those killed or injured in the attack were foreign nationals visiting New York, the most populous U.S. city, and most of the people who spoke at the hearing had traveled from Argentina and Belgium.

Saipov is expected to be housed at Colorado’s Supermax facility, the most secure U.S. federal prison, where he is due to spend 22 or 23 hours a day alone in a cell with a concrete bed.

President Biden’s Stance on Capital Punishment

Saipov’s case was the first federal death penalty trial since Democratic President Joe Biden took office in 2021. Biden had pledged during his campaign to abolish capital punishment in federal cases.

• Reporting by: Luc Cohen in New York and Brendan O’Brien in Chicago
• Editing by: Will Dunham, Bill Berkrot, Leslie Adler and David Gregorio