Car mows down people in NY; 1 dead
NEW YORK (AP) — A man steered his car onto a sidewalk running through Times Square and mowed down pedestrians for three blocks Thursday, killing a teenager, then emerged from his wrecked vehicle wild-eyed and screaming before he was subdued by police and bystanders.
The driver, a 26-year-old US Navy veteran, told officers he was hearing voices and expected to die, two law enforcement officials said.
Helpless pedestrians had little time to react as the car barreled down the sidewalk and through intersections before smashing into a row of steel security barriers installed to prevent vehicle attacks on the square where massive crowds gather every New Year’s Eve.
Filipino businessman Rudy delos Reyes, 54, was at the scene and witnessed the horrific incident.
“It was literally people like bowling pins being hit and flying left and right and people shrieking and screaming,” he said.
On a brief vacation in the US with his wife and sons, Delos Reyes narrowly missed being hit by the wayward car that plowed into the regular Times Square crowd.
“We just crossed the street to the other side. Had we not crossed, we’d have been the first people to be rammed,” he added.
The incident, he said, left them crying and hysterical.
The car came to rest with its two right wheels in the air.
Police said 23 people were struck, including an 18-year-old tourist from Michigan who died.
The woman’s 13-year-old sister was among the injured.
The carnage raised immediate fears of terrorism, fueled by recent attacks in England, France and Germany in which vehicles plowed through crowds of pedestrians.
But investigators quickly turned their focus to the sobriety and mental health of the driver, identified as Bronx resident Richard Rojas.
”There is no indication that this was an act of terrorism,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Photographers snapped pictures of Rojas after he climbed from the wrecked car and ran through the street before he was tackled by a group that included a muscular security supervisor at a nearby Planet Hollywood restaurant.
”He began screaming, no particular words but just utter screaming. He was swinging his arms at the same time, said the bouncer, Ken Bradix.
“There was something wrong with him.”
The officials said Rojas told officers he had been hearing voices.
Police identified the woman killed by the car as Alyssa Elsman of Portage, Michigan.
Elsman graduated last year from Portage Central High School.
”If you didn’t know her, you might think she’s reserved or shy,” school principal Eric Alburtus said. “But if you could talk to her for a minute, you’d realize she was engaging. She was bright. She was funny.”
Thursday’s mayhem began at noon on a hot, clear day that brought large crowds of people into the streets to enjoy the good weather.
Police said Rojas had been driving south on Seventh Avenue when he made a quick U-turn at 42nd Street and drove up the sidewalk for three blocks, passing tourist draws like the Hard Rock Cafe and the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant.
Security camera video showed people being flung in bunches over the car’s hood.
”People just got stunned,” said Bruno Carvalho, a student at SUNY Albany. “I don’t think there was actually time for screaming.”