By Brendan O’Brien
(Reuters) – A driver suspected of being under the influence of alcohol was in custody on Friday after his pickup truck plowed into a crowd celebrating the Fourth of July in a Lower Manhattan park, killing three and injuring seven others, authorities said.
The man, who was driving a Ford F-150, sped through a stop sign at about 9 p.m. on Thursday and on to a sidewalk, striking people gathered in Corlears Hook Park on the Lower East Side, New York Police Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said.
“It appears at this time … the driver was under the influence,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a briefing, noting that there was no indication of terrorism.
A 44-year-old man was taken into custody at the scene. The man has not been formally charged as of Friday morning, police said.
“People who were there at the scene grabbed the driver, removed the driver and made sure the driver didn’t leave,” Maddrey said.
Firefighters who arrived at the scene found four people trapped under the pickup truck. Paramedics took four critically injured people and three people in serious condition to the hospital, fire officials said on Thursday.
A 59-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man who were struck died at the hospital, the New York Police Department said on Friday. No information was released about the third victim who died.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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