New Jersey man killed in 2017 New York City bike lane attack never knew he got a coveted job promotion, jury hears at Saifullo Saipov’s death penalty trial

One thing that hurts Barbara Drake over the loss of her only child in a truck attack on the Hudson Greenway in 2017 was that he didn’t live long enough to know that he was on the verge of great success. as the jury heard on Tuesday.

Darren Drake of New Milford, NJ was riding a bike unaware he was about to get the promotion he was hard at work at Moody’s Analytics when Saifullo Saipov ran him over with a 6,000-pound truck on a greenway bike path 2 October. January 31, 2017. He was 32 years old.

“He just wanted to see recognition and get that title he worked so hard for,” Barbara Drake testified in Manhattan Federal Court, telling jurors that she learned about her son’s planned promotion at his wake from his boss.

“Unfortunately, he was ready to take the title when he was killed. He never found out. He did not know. That’s the only thing I’m so sad about that he never figured out what he really is – he actually did it.”

Drake’s grieving mum shared an anecdote from a witness statement in federal court in Saipov’s death penalty case.

The jury that convicted Saipov in January is now hearing evidence as to whether the government should execute him for the ISIS-inspired attack that killed Drake and seven others.

Drake’s mom, an avid high school football player, described him as a soft giant who is taller than anyone on the field but who never dropped his weight.

Drake, a Rutgers and Fairleigh Dickinson graduate, was his parents’ favorite. The couple, who have been married for 50 years, listened with delight as Drake entertained them with stories of his daily life, admiring their diligent son, whose ambition and empathy for others knew no bounds.

“My husband and I are illiterate people, but we didn’t know where he came from. He always strived for self-improvement, always looked to the future,” said Barbara Drake.

“Darren said that if we win the lottery, he will go to the Ph.D. He just really wanted to advance and he’s going to work really hard.”

On the morning of the attack, Drake’s father, as always, drove him to the PATH station in Hoboken. During their last conversation, Drake told his father that he didn’t think he would have time to ride his bike on the green road that day.

“He told him, ‘Dad, I don’t think I can skate today. I have too many meetings in a row.” So that was the last thing he said to him,” Barbara testified.

When the news broke and Drake’s parents couldn’t reach him on the phone, they drove into town to Bellevue Hospital, where they learned medics were transporting casualties. They stayed until midnight, and the FBI agents could not find their son or confirm whether he was alive or dead.

Drake’s mom described the drive home that night as “the worst night of our lives.”

They found out about it the next day when agents called them back at the hospital.

“When we were in Bellevue, we didn’t realize – he was somewhere nearby all the time, dead, and we didn’t know it. We didn’t know that,” said Barbara Drake, bursting into tears.

To honor her son’s memory, the Drake family set up a fund dedicated to an issue that deeply concerned them – a scholarship fund for people who want to attend professional schools.

“He always said about his classmates that some of them don’t want to go to college. They wanted to be electricians, they wanted to be plumbers, they wanted to work in air conditioning, they wanted to be in cosmetics, and they wanted to go to trade school,” Drake said.

“So he always thought they didn’t have enough scholarship opportunities like you have to go to college.”

Saipov, 35, was convicted January 26 on 28 federal charges of murder and terrorism, including crimes carrying the death penalty. The father of three, who lived in Paterson, New Jersey and worked as an Uber driver, emigrated to the US in 2010 and lived in Florida and Ohio before moving to the New York area.

Jurors watched heartbreaking footage of Saipov hurtling down a bike path and causing destruction for a mile before crashing into traffic poles, taking off and crashing into a school bus.

Along with Drake, 31-year-old Anne-Laure Decadt, a Belgian mother of two, who was cycling with her mother and two sisters, was killed in the attack; 23-year-old New Yorker Nicholas Cleaves; and five Argentines who traveled to New York to meet friends: Hernán Diego Mendoza, Alejandro Damian Panyukko, Ariel Erliy, Hernán Ferrucci and Diego Enrique Angelini.

Saipov’s lawyers did not interrogate any of the victims’ relatives. They are expected to call Saipov’s family members and ISIS propaganda experts when they open the case on Wednesday, trying to convince the jury not to sentence him to death.

Before Barbara Drake had finished her turn as a witness, the prosecutor asked how she and her husband Jimmy Drake filled the void of losing their son.

“It’s amazing how it really changes your life, you know, things you look forward to,” said Barbara. “We don’t expect anything. We go through life. We do what we do in life, but he is always at the forefront and we miss him terribly.”