The NYPD on Monday arrested a truck driver accused of deliberately hitting pedestrians, injuring at least eight people. The suspect was driving a truck belonging to the U-Haul transportation company.
Two people were hospitalized in critical condition and two in serious condition after being struck by pedestrians in Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge neighborhood, city police commissioner Keechant Sewell told reporters as she walked stood in front of the intersection where the accident occurred.
Four people were lightly injured, she said, adding that a policeman was among the injured.
Police have yet to name the suspect. However, The New York Times, citing two senior law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the driver’s name was Ven Sor. According to NBC, he is 62 years old.
Shortly after the arrest, Justin Brennan, a city councilman representing the Bay Ridge area, told news outlet NY1 that the incident “appeared to be accidental, but was obviously deliberate.”
“That driver knew what he was doing, he knew he was hitting people,” Brennan said, adding that when the driver was arrested he told police, “I want to die.”
The incident occurred the same day federal juries began deliberating the death penalty in the case of Saifullo Saipov, an extremist convicted of driving a truck down a New York City bike path in 2017. killing eight people.
Police have found no connection between the two incidents.
“At this time, we have no indication of any terrorist involvement in this incident,” Sewell said.
Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul have been briefed on the incident, officials said.
