Manhattan bicycle-path terrorist Sayfullo Saipov was sentenced to 10 life terms plus an additional 260 years in federal prison Wednesday. Saipov, 35, was convicted in January of carrying out the 2017 attack that killed eight people and injured at least a dozen others. A federal jury did not sentence him to death, clearing the way for his penalty on Wednesday, reports the Wall Street Journal. U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick sentenced Saipov to the maximum penalty he faced on 28 charges including murder, terrorism and providing material support to Islamic State.
On Halloween day in 2017, Saipov drove a rented flatbed truck from New Jersey onto a bike path along the Hudson River in Manhattan. He mowed down cyclists and walkers for nearly a mile before colliding with a school bus. Then he shouted “God is great” in Arabic as he exited his truck, brandishing a paintball gun and a pellet gun. A New York police officer shot him in the abdomen. Around 20 survivors and victims’ family members testified at Saipov’s sentencing hearing. “The thought that I was not there to hold him for his last breath will torment me forever,” said Monica Missio, speaking about her only child, Nicholas Cleves, a 23-year-old New Yorker who died in the attack. “I have nothing but contempt for this killer,” she said. “It disgusts me he gets to wake up every day while my son does not.” The victims included a Belgian woman, two American men and five Argentine men on a high-school reunion trip.