Car drives wrong way in Times Square and hits crowds; 1 dead

NEW YORK — A man who appeared intoxicated drove his car the wrong way up a Times Square street and plowed into pedestrians on the sidewalk Thursday, killing a teenager and injuring 22 other people, authorities and witnesses said. The driver was taken into custody.

Pandemonium erupted when the vehicle barrelled through the prime tourist location and came to rest with two of its wheels in the air. The car leaned on a lamppost and steel barriers intended to block vehicles from getting onto the sidewalk.

“He’s just mowing down people,” said Asa Lowe, of Brooklyn, who was standing outside a store when he heard screaming. “He didn’t stop. He just kept going.”

The crash happened midday on a hot, clear day that brought large crowds of people into the streets to enjoy the good weather. Video posted online showed steam or smoke pouring from the car for a few moments after it stopped moving.

After the car struck a barricade and stopped, the driver climbed out of his vehicle, Lowe said.

“He just started running until people tackled him down,” Lowe said. “Citizens just reacted.”

The driver, a 26-year-old navy veteran named Richard Rojas, was taken into custody and was undergoing tests for alcohol and drugs, Police Commissioner James O’Neill said. Rojas had been arrested at least twice previously for driving while intoxicated, once in 2008 and once in 2015, police said. He was in custody, and it wasn’t clear if he had an attorney yet who could comment on his behalf.

The crash killed an 18-year-old woman and the injured included her 13-year-old sister, police said.

Police do not suspect a link to terrorism, but the vehicle was checked by the bomb squad and certain city landmarks were getting a beefed up police presence.

“Out of an abundance of caution,” Mayor Bill de Blasio added.

Police said Rojas made a quick U-turn onto 42nd Street and then drove up the sidewalk for three blocks, passing tourist draws like the Hard Rock Cafe and the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant and mowing people down before slamming into a pole.

He was combative with officers who handcuffed him, authorities said.