NYC Mom Caught Trying to Help 'Killer' Son on the Run: Police

A 20-year-old New Jersey man allegedly. wasn't interested in facing charges in. connection with a deadly street race. Why? Because he's accused now of trying. to flee the country with the help of his. mom. That is the allegation from. authorities in multiple states after the. pair were taken into custody while. trying to fly out of the United States. We're taking a closer look at. investigations that cross borders and. the potential consequences of trying to. get away with a retired FBI agent. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. [Music].

Law enforcement in New Jersey say that. this man's reckless actions left one. person dead and others seriously. injured. But the charges that he faced. before have now ballooned into a laundry. list of allegations because authorities. say he tried to flee the country. According to prosecutors in Middle Sex. County, state troopers responded to a. crash on the Garden State Parkway on. June 29th just after 7 p.m. New Jersey. State Police's criminal investigation. office teamed up with the prosecutor's. fatal crash investigators team to figure.

out what exactly happened here. And. those investigators say they were able. to determine that there were two BMWs. One of them was an M5, the other was an. X3. They were racing on the Parkway. southbound when the X3 hit two other. vehicles and ended up rolling over. several times and hitting trees. Now, fortunately, the people in the cars that. were hit, they were not injured. But the. same couldn't be said for the passengers. in the BMW SUV. Two people in the X3, a. man identified as Albian Heisenage and.

another unidentified person were ejected. from the car. They were both rushed to a. hospital where Heisen died. He was just. 19 years old. The other unidentified. passenger had grave injuries. Now, the. driver of the X3, let's talk about him, 20-year-old Alvi Lammani, and a third. passenger, 19-year-old Emily Harrington, both of Staten Island, apparently ran. away from the scene of the crash. And it. seems that Alvi wasn't done running. According to prosecutors, he was.

arrested in Miami, where authorities. believe he was traveling in order to get. onto an international flight and leave. the country. Oh, and by the way, he. apparently wasn't alone. A Tik Tok user. posted a video from a New York City. airport on July 17th that appears to. show Alvi and his mother, 42-year-old. Vilma Neesha, being led away from the. plane and loaded into police cars. They. were handcuffed, their feet were. shackled, fugitive warrants were filed. against Alvi and Vilma, and the two were. extradited from Miami back to New.

Jersey. So, as you can see, there's a. lot of moving parts here. I want to. bring in Colin L. Schmidt, a retired FBI. agent, president and CEO of Kronos. Investigations to understand exactly. what we're talking about when you're. trying to apprehend a suspect and what. might be happening behind the scenes. here. So, Colin, good to see you. Leaving the scene of an accident, never. a good idea for multiple reasons, but. then allegedly trying to flee from. criminal charges, even worse. What do. you make of that allegation? And do.

fugitives I mean if these allegations. are true, do fugitives actually think. they're going to be able to get away? Do. they get away? >> Well, it doesn't sound like these sub. subjects were very sophisticated in. terms of their. >> trying to get away from uh law. enforcement. Obviously, leaving the. scene of a of an accident is an. automatic crime. And then I don't think. they understood that the a warrant was. issued. It was put into the system and. then those warrants are all. automatically go into the border watch. system where when they run their.

passport to leave the country, it's. going to flag and then they're going to. immediately be detained. >> That's why people don't always jump on a. plane, right? They find other ways to. get out of a place. I don't know, train, buses, car. There's other ways to try to. do it. >> Exactly. I mean, anybody that's ever. traveled outside of the country on a. plane knows that you're going to end up. having to go through some sort of check, whether it be through TSA or through. customs or ICE to get on your plane. Now, if they're going to run, they would. have potentially run through driving.

through the Mexican border, but then the. Mexican authorities are now becoming. very friendly with the uh United States. government in terms of getting these. fugitives back. We just got 26 uh drug. trafficking cartel leaders back. yesterday. So, um, the the ability for. criminals in the United States to flee. the United States is getting, uh, harder. and harder with the the new. administration's lean leaning in on, uh, crime. >> By the way, as you're watching this. video, you may know that we put out a. lot of sidebar videos out every day,

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listeners have a lot of opinions and. ideas to share. And this is the most. powerful tool there is to help you edit. like a pro and grow your own audience. So give it a try for yourself. Go to. opus.pro/sidebar. to start creating your own videos today. How generally are fugitives tracked down. and how important is the timeline? Does. it have to be the first like they say, you know, the first 48 hours are the. most important? How difficult is it? And. what should we be thinking about in. terms of time frame? >> Well, when I was uh working for the. United States Marshall Service as a. deputy US Marshal, I chased fugitives as.

well as with the FBI. It was a little. different back then because it was more. uh a street, you know, talking to. people, talking to family members and uh. surveillance. Now it's more electronic. You're looking at their phones and the. phones generally tell the story and. tracking that phone or pinging that. phone is usually the first step now in a. fugitive investigation versus going out. and talking to people. >> Now, when it comes to the charges, as I. mentioned, Alvi faces just a whole slew. of them. He is accused of firstdegree.

aggravated manslaughter, seconddegree. vehicular manslaughter, second degree. knowingly leaving the scene of an. accident resulting in death. Third. degree knowingly leaving the scene of an. accident resulting in serious bodily. injury. Third degree causing death while. driving with a suspended license. Fourth. degree causing serious injury while. driving with a suspended license. Two. counts of thirdderee endangering of an. injured victim. Third degree tampering. with public records. thirdderee. hindering and fourthderee assault by.

Otto. Now in comparison, his mom Vilma's. charge seems relatively minor thirdderee. hindering, but Colin a she's still in. hot water over this. There might be. people who say even though her son is. accused of horrific crimes. They might. say she's trying to protect her son. She. shouldn't have done it, but she was. trying to protect her son. Two questions. about that. A, how much trouble is she. in? And B, do you see that often? Do you. see parents trying to protect their.

children, trying to have their children. escape? I mean, if these allegations are. true, >> yeah, I think that's a natural reaction. by a parent to protect their child. However, in this case, it's certainly. not a good choice or good judgment. And. in terms of him, they obviously threw. the book at him because there was a. death. So, she's in a lot of trouble. because she did hinder and they could. actually probably find more charges put. on her. But the the bottom line is he. killed somebody based upon his actions. and now he's going to face justice and.

because the authorities leaned in on. this and they weren't going to let him. get away with it. >> So according by the way to New Jersey's. criminal statute, a person commits the. offense of hindering by harboring or. concealing another or providing or. aiding in providing a weapon, money, transportation, disguise, or other means. of avoiding discovery or apprehension or. affecting escape. Colin, it does make me. wonder what a potential defense could be. in a case like this when it looks really. bad. I mean, you wonder, would the. defense attorneys argue they were just. going on a trip? They were not trying to.

flee the country. She wasn't trying to. help him escape. Is that have any legs. to it? >> Uh, no. Because there's going to be uh. they're going to get the phone. communication, the text communications. between the two of them. It's going to. show that she had knowledge of his. crimes. And then if she thinks a jury is. going to be sympathetic to her, absolutely not. If their defense is. going to hope for jury nullification, not going to happen. Simply there is. really no defense to what she did. I'm. sure that she if she has the means, she'll hire a lawyer that'll try to come.

up with one. Bottom line is she helped. her son try to get out of the country. and they both got caught. >> That's the allegation. Uh now, New. Jersey sentencing guidelines that we. looked up say that if convicted of. thirdderee hindering apprehension or. prosecution, a defendant could be. sentenced to at least one year in. prison. By the way, Colin, as we're. talking about street racing and the. devastating effects of what's happening, is that something that you investigated. at all? Is that a serious crime that we.

see, a serious event uh that we see in. the United States? Is that happening. more frequently? because obviously you. see the plethora of different crimes and. charges that could come as a result of a. deadly crash like this. >> I did investigate that. That's generally. a local crime. It is very common in the. LA area, not only the street racing, but. also the street takeovers. And it's. also, it appears to be being fueled by. social media, especially Tik Tok, the. videos of these uh takeovers and these.

street races. And there's even uh. YouTube channels that actually show the. races. So there is also a responsibility. from the the social media companies to. kind of take a step back and look at. this and not encourage this behavior. because obviously it doesn't end well. when they do street racing. >> Now the 19-year-old who allegedly ran. from the scene of the accident with. Alvi, I mentioned her before, Emily. Harrington, faces charges of thirdderee. hindering, fourthderee obstruction, and. fourthderee conspiracy to endanger.

another. This is according to Middle Sex. County prosecutors. The driver of the. car, Alvi, was allegedly racing. 23-year-old Jeter Orando was charged. with seconddegree vehicular homicide, thirdderee endangering another, and. fourthderee assault by auto. By the way, Colin, just from a legal point of view, they're really hitting them with a lot. of charges. And rightfully so. Right. I. mean, I think they are trying to I don't. know if all if they'll be able to prove. beyond a reasonable doubt all the. charges that they're facing, but. prosecutors are quite serious about.

this. This is making a statement. Well, I think there's two things going. on here. Obviously, there was a death or. fatality, and the second thing is they. want to send a message about this street. racing that they've had enough, and. they're going to hold people accountable. if there is a a bad outcome from the. street racing, as well as I believe law. enforcement is leaning in on to stop the. street racing to immediately arrest. people that that participate in it. because this is the generally a common. outcome when they are street racing. >> How do you investigate the crime? What.

are the next steps? Who do you talk to? Is there surveillance that you want to. collect? Um what do you look at with the. car with respect to the cars? What is. this kind of investigation look like? >> Well, they're always going to start with. the car itself and do an accident. reconstruction and take a step back. The. second thing is there's going to there's. onboard computers on both cars. They're. going to pull that and look at the. onboard computers. Then they'll take. another step back and look and talk to. the witnesses that were there as well as.

any of the surviving people that were in. the cars. And then the next step would. be look at the for social media. There's. going to be social media out there. It's. going to be probably on some channel. watching the act. Then they'll take. another step back and then once again. get the phones, look who's on the phone, see if there was text messages before. the street race showing their intent to. do this. >> But it is deterrence too, right? I mean, you want to make sure that this sends a. message that this is not going to be. tolerated and you can be charged quite. severely and if you allegedly try to.

help your family escape justice. >> Absolutely. Yeah. That's what they're. the the clear message they're sending is. they've had enough and they're going to. to crack down on this and anybody that. does is going to come come to justice. Now, according to the New York Post, uh, Albian Heisenage's uncle, Param Morati, was quite upset by the social media post. that he'd seen that had praised Vilma. for quote helping her son. Quote, "People propose saying it's a mother's. love." But how does my sister feel now? People want to compare and say a mother.

would do that for their child, but. nobody's putting themselves in my. sister's shoes who actually lost a. child. I believe she deserves time. She. deserves to go to jail as well. She. shouldn't be walking free. Being a. mother, she should have thought about. what happened to my sister. What if they. would have gotten him out of the. country? We wouldn't have gotten any. justice. But I will tell you, Moratti. Zire isn't just directed at Vilma. He is. also quite angry with Alvi for allegedly. causing the crash that killed his. nephew. How do you leave your friend? What if he could have saved him? What if.

that little bit of help put your hand on. a wound there? What if he could have. helped him? He could have called 911. He. could have done anything. So, a number. of good points there, Colin. That's the. danger of leaving the scene and also why. you cannot excuse this mother in any way. for what she allegedly did. >> Yeah, absolutely. And and you're seeing. a sea change in our culture there. There. was over the last many years that this. um this restorative justice or there's.

just basically forgetting the victims. Now it appears that the culture is going. back to we're focusing on the victims. and we're focusing on the harm that. these criminals do to the community when. their actions kill somebody or harm. somebody. So he is spot on. And the. second point of course is the social. media aspect of this. There has to be. some sort of uh reckoning in terms of is. the social media encouraging this. behavior because there's young people. being hurt and killed. And I think. that's actually previews what an opening. statement would look like by a.

prosecutor talking about the gravity of. this crime. Talking about if he would. have stayed, you know, again, assuming. these allegations are true, if he would. have stayed, he could have potentially. saved his friend's life. How Vilma's. alleged actions would have prevented. justice in this case for the victims. I. don't know if they would actually be. tried together. Probably not if I had to. guess, but we'll see. I will say they're. expected to have detention hearings in. New Jersey this week. I can't imagine. bail is an option for them. >> No, because they've already demonstrated. uh flight risk. So, if there is a bail,

it's going to be exceedingly high and. they're going to be held in in custody. >> Now, I will also tell you that the. investigation into this crash, it is. still ongoing. The state troopers, the. Middle Sex County Prosecutor's Office, they're asking anyone with any. information or video to reach out to. them right away. How do investigators. sort through that information from the. public? How do they get information from. the public? How does that work? Well, they're they they put the call out. and then they probably have a um a 1-800. number or they can submit the video via.

Dropbox or something like that and then. it's all going to come down to the the. investigators know that what happened. They're going to filter it based upon. the time and date and location because. they're going to also get a lot of. garbage. Unfortunately, it's going to. come in. So, they're going to have. somebody that's going to quickly filter. through this, find the best video, and. get that in front of the prosecutors. >> Yeah. And and by the way, what do you. think the chances were that they could. have, again, assuming these allegations. are true, that they could have escaped. if they left? How difficult would it. have been to get them back?

>> Well, it depends on which country they. went to. You know, some countries have. most countries have extradition with the. United States, some don't. Generally, if. they're not a citizen of another. country, what that country will do is. just expel them or deport them back to. the United States. So, it's getting. better with this administration and. their aggressive nature of getting these. people back. But I think eventually they. would have been brought to justice. because it doesn't appear they would. have had the means to stay on the run. for a long time. >> And to be clear, it's not just murder. charges, a murder suspect who you want. to try to have extradited. Even I mean.

these are manslaughter charges. They're. hindering charges, but that would be. sufficient, right? There's always active. steps to get back alleged criminals who. commit all sorts of crimes. Generally, as long as it's a crime in the other. country, then they'll be either can go. into extradition, if there is an. extradition treaty, or be deported back. to the United States. And you wonder if. they gather more evidence like we're. talking about during the course of this. investigation. that will make it stronger, a stronger. case, potentially put pressure on them. to plead guilty. Um, particularly.

probably for Vilmas and she's facing the. lesser charge. But uh it it's it's. ongoing and our hearts, our prayers, our. thoughts are with the families because. this is a really difficult case. This. shouldn't happen. Street racing is so. incredibly dangerous and you just have. to remember who's left behind. You might. think it's fun. You might think it's. games. You might think it's a good time. But look at what's happening right now. Look at how many lives have been. destroyed as a result of this. Colin. Schmidt, thank you so much for taking. the time. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. Appreciate it.

>> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to. you next time. [Music].