Two people were killed and at least nine others were injured after a driver plowed a pickup truck into a crowd of people celebrating July 4 in a park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the authorities said. The police said they suspected alcohol was a factor.
Several of the injured were transported to hospitals, two of them in critical condition, the authorities said at a news conference on Thursday night. A police spokesman confirmed by phone that a person had been taken into custody.
Speaking at the news conference, Mayor Eric Adams of New York said that though investigations were preliminary, the incident did not appear to be terrorist related. Officers responding to the scene smelled alcohol on the driver, and the police were conducting tests to confirm, officials said.
Police said that just before 9 p.m., a Ford F-150 driving eastbound at high speed down Water Street sped through a stop sign, onto the sidewalk and into Corlears Hook Park, where a crowd of people were celebrating the holiday.
“You have a tragic incident like this that really impacts family members who were just here, celebrating and barbecuing inside a park,” Mayor Adams said. During the news conference, blasts of fireworks could be heard in the background, at times drowning out the officials.