Multiple pedestrians struck, injured by U-Haul truck in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Multiple people were struck and injured by a U-Haul truck in Brooklyn and police now say the driver was demonstrating irrational behavior before the incident.
abc7ny.com
Monday, February 13, 2023 1:47PM
BAY RIDGE, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Multiple people were struck and injured by a U-Haul truck in Brooklyn and police now say the driver was demonstrating irrational behavior before the incident.
The suspect is a 62-year-old homeless man and may have been living in the U-Haul truck, according to police.
When they attempted to pull him over he told police that he wanted to die and fled the scene driving onto the sidewalk.
He struck multiple pedestrians at several locations in Bay Ridge near 5th Avenue and Bay Ridge Parkway by a U-Haul.
At least eight people are injured, according to police.
A man in his 30s who was hit on 4th Avenue was taken to Lutheran Hospital along with another victim who is both in critical condition.
Two people suffered serious injuries and were taken to area hospitals.
Three men on mopeds were struck and sustained minor injuries. They were taken to a nearby hospital along with another victim who sustained minor injuries.
Eyewitness News obtained exclusive video of a man diving out of the way of the U-Haul truck seconds before he would have been struck:
The driver fled those crashes north on the Gowanus Expressway he exited on Hamilton Avenue and was surrounded by police at Columbia Street in Red Hook.
"The police approached this driver and tried to get him to pull over and at that time he said something to the effect of 'I want to die' and proceeded to start driving on the sidewalks in Bay Ridge," Brannan said.
Brannan tweeted about the incident in his district.
Police took the suspect into custody for questioning and is now in the hospital for a psychological evaluation.
The bomb squad was called in to search the truck and found nothing suspicious, according to police.
A spokesperson for the mayor said the Adams has been briefed, and "there are no additional credible threats."
Former NYPD Chief of Detectives and ABC News Contributor Robert Boyce says its difficult to not compare this instance to the man who drove a truck through a crowded street in Manhattan killing several people back in 2017.
"It's the first thing I thought," Boyce said. "I worked the Sayfull Saipov case I remember how dangerous it was and what he did and how deadly it was. That was the first thing that came to mind when I heard the rented truck. So let's hope it's not that and it's a person in mental distress at this point and it's nothing more than that. It's difficult to link the two right now but how can you not think about that?"
Robert Boyce on bomb squad investigating U-Haul in Red Hook
NewsCopter 7 captured footage of the U-Haul truck after police took the driver into custody.
