(NEW YORK) — Three people are dead, and seven others have been injured after a suspected drunk driver plowed his vehicle into a park on the Lower East Side of New York City, police said Thursday night.
The 44-year-old driver, a man from New Jersey, was driving the grey Ford F-150 when he struck multiple pedestrians in the park, at the intersection of Water and Jackson streets at 8:53 p.m. on Thursday night, police said.
The driver was eastbound on Water Street when he sped through a stop sign, jumped the curb and crashed into Corlears Hook Park. The pickup truck was on top of four of the victims when authorities arrived. Good Samaritans held the driver until police arrived.
The Fire Department of New York arrived on the scene within three minutes and found four victims pinned under a gray Ford F-150 pickup truck, officials said.
FDNY worked alongside NYPD’s emergency services unit to remove the patients from under the vehicle, according to the authorities.
Two women were pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital. A man was pronounced dead at New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital
The 59-year-old woman and 38-year-old man appear to be related. The other woman appears to be in her early 40s
Among those hospitalized are a mother and her two young children, police said.
First responders smelled alcohol at the scene, police said. Tests are being conducted to determine whether the driver was intoxicated during the incident, they added.
The driver is in custody with charges pending and he is suspected of being intoxicated at the time of the incident.
Authorities said that terrorism is not suspected at this time, although the investigation is ongoing.
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