Boston Herald

U-Haul driver’s ‘rampage’ leaves 8 hurt, police say

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NEW YORK >> A man driving a U-Haul truck swerved onto sidewalks and plowed into scooter riders in New York City on Monday, injuring multiple people before police were able to pin the careening vehicle against a building following a mileslong pursuit through Brooklyn.

At least eight people were hurt, two critically. The driver was arrested. His son identified him as Weng Sor, 62, a troubled man with a history of violence and stints behind bars.

New York City Police Commission­er Keechant Sewell described the driver’s behavior as a “violent rampage,” but said there was no evidence of “terrorism involvemen­t.”

The truck sped through the Bay Ridge neighborho­od before police stopped it more than 3 miles away, near the entrance to a tunnel leading from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

Weng Sor’s son, Stephen Sor, 30, told The Associated Press that his father had a history of mental illness and, until recently, was living in Las Vegas.

“Very frequently he’ll choose to skip out on his medication­s and do something like this,” Stephen Sor said in an interview outside his Brooklyn home. “This isn’t the first time he’s been arrested. It’s not the first time he’s gone to jail.”

The first report of a truck crashing into pedestrian­s and cyclists came in at 10:30 a.m., police said, and other reports followed as the vehicle moved through a busy section of Brooklyn.

Katherine Aronova said she saw the U-Haul run a red light, hit a delivery worker on an e-bike in the middle of the road and drag him a short distance.

“His face was covered with blood. He was unconsciou­s,” and his shoes were scattered on the sidewalk, Aronova said. “The electric bicycle was destroyed completely.”

A security camera video showed the truck clip a scooter, then swerve onto a sidewalk and nearly plow into a pedestrian, who dived to safety just in time. A police patrol car then followed the truck down the sidewalk at high speed.

“I was in shock and didn’t know what was happening until I saw the police patrol was chasing it,” a witness, Andrea Vasquez, said in Spanish. “Thank God that man saved himself,” she added of the person who narrowly escaped.

Aerial video from news helicopter­s showed the truck on a sidewalk after the chase ended, its path blocked by a police cruiser. Authoritie­s examined the vehicle to make sure it didn’t contain explosives.

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