Three dead, four critically injured in ramming in NYC park on July 4
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The injuries include four persons in critical condition, three badly hurt, and two with moderate injuries.
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New York Mayor Eric Adams giving a statement at the crime scene (X photo, @NYPDnews)
A pickup vehicle crashed into a party celebrating the Fourth of July holiday in New York City, killing three people and injuring at least seven others, four of whom were in critical condition, according to officials.
The New Jersey motorist, identified as 44-year-old Daniel Hyden, of New Jersey, was driving a gray Ford F-150 along a roadway "at a high rate of speed" just before 9 pm on Thursday. During a press conference, New York Police Department Chief Jeffrey Maddrey stated that the truck passed through an intersection and a stop sign before driving across the sidewalk and into Corlears Hook Park on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
He has been charged with driving under the influence and driving without a valid license, CBS News reported.
Three people were pronounced dead, according to authorities. Two victims have been identified as 59-year-old Lucille Pinkney and 38-year-old Herman Pinkney, CBS reported. The third victim’s name has not been released, but authorities confirmed the victim is a woman in her 40s, ABC News reported.
According to Michael Meyers, assistant head of the New York City Fire Department, the injured included four persons in critical condition, three badly hurt, and two with moderate injuries.
ABC stated that a woman and her two small children had been hospitalized, and their conditions remain unknown.
The first fire department team to arrive on the site saw the pickup vehicle on top of four of the victims, and firemen worked rapidly to extract them before emergency medical professionals began treating them, Meyers said.
In a news briefing at the scene, Maddrey and New York Mayor Eric Adams stated that investigators do not believe the incident was a terrorist act.
Adams called the incident a tragic one, stating, “A driver drove into a crowd of people who were actually just celebrating like so many New Yorkers and Americans are doing right now.”
Witnesses to the horrible incident recounted witnessing the vehicle barrel into groups of people grilling on the sidewalk to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday.
Shi Jackson, 39, told The New York Times, “You hear everyone’s screaming, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop, slow down.’ And he didn’t stop. He wasn’t able to stop."
“I remember seeing small children on stretchers,” she recalled to NYT.
Mass shooting in Philadelphia kills 1, injures 8
Such incidents are no stranger to the Fourth of July with celebrations including drinking accidents and mass shootings targeting gatherings.
One individual was killed and eight more were injured during a mass shooting that unraveled during the Independence Day celebrations on July 4, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said on Friday.
US media reported that the incident occurred in southwest Philadelphia and involved three juveniles and six adults.
"Last night, around 11:30 as a result of a pop-up party, which I'll get into a little bit more, we had nine individuals who were shot," Bethel said during a press conference. "I offer condolences to the family here today as a result of the life loss."
In detail, an individual approached a gathering with his vehicle from which he opened fire, striking the individuals from the highway.
The police made significant progress in identifying the vehicle used in the incident but would not make public the name of the suspect at present, Bethel added.
