A beautiful evening of July Fourth festivities turned into a night of horror when a pickup truck driver slammed into a crowd in a Lower East Side park, killing two and injuring seven others, officials said.
At a somber press conference late Thursday night, Mayor Adams stood beside top NYPD and FDNY officials.
“We had a tragic incident that took place here,” said Adams. “A driver drove into a crowd of people who were just celebrating like so many New Yorkers and Americans are doing right now.”
The driver of the Ford F-150 pickup truck sped across water street, ran a stop sign, mounted a curb and careened into Corlears Hook Park on the corner of Water St. and Jackson St. just after 8:55 p.m., officials said.
“He plowed into the fence,” said witness Juan Roman. “You could hear the metal shear and the benches collapsing.”
In front of the truck was a crowd of about 30 people celebrating the holiday, according to Roman, who was there with his family. The man watched in horror as the driver slammed directly into a family of four barbecuing.
“I saw at least three people under the truck,” said Roman, 62. “They didn’t have no time to react. They were just crushed.”
As the victims lay pinned under the vehicle, a “mob” of people pulled the driver out of the car “and started beating him,” Roman said.
FDNY members arrived on the scene and pulled the group off the driver while others extracted the pinned victims.
“I was in shock,” said Roman. “It’s an image that’s not going to leave me anytime soon.”
Responding officers smelled alcohol on the driver’s breath and took him into custody, but police were still in the process of testing him late Thursday night.
Two people died at the scene and two others were rushed to the hospital in critical condition, officials said.
Five more injured people were also rushed to area hospitals, where they were expected to survive.
Police believe three of the victims were a mother and her two young children, NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said.
“I feel bad for the family,” said Roman. “They were just barbecuing trying to enjoy the Fourth of July. It was horrible, just horrible.”
Police do not believe the terrifying crash was a terrorism-related event. The incident left about 200 revelers shaken.
“I really want to give sympathy to the families,” Maddrey said at a news conference. “Not only the families of the victims of this incident, but even the people who were here in the park who were celebrating on a beautiful Fourth of July evening.”
