Man driving U-Haul truck allegedly kills 1, injures 8 in New York

Police vehicles surround a U-Haul rental truck after the driver was arrested in New York, on Feb 13, 2023. PHOTO: NYTIMES

NEW YORK - One person was killed and at least eight others wounded on Monday after they were struck by a man driving a U-Haul truck in the New York borough of Brooklyn, according to police and media reports.

New York Police Department (NYPD) chief Keechant Sewell told reporters on Monday morning that there was no indication the incident was terror-related.

Officers first stopped the driver at around 10.50am in the neighbourhood of Bay Ridge after he had hit some of the people. He then drove away, hitting more people as the police gave chase.

The driver was finally stopped and arrested. An NYPD spokesman said three of the injured had been on bicycles or electric mopeds.

“We know a very limited amount about our subject at this time,” Ms Sewell said, adding that an investigation was ongoing.

She said that officers had seven separate locations to investigate. A New York Times report on Monday evening said nine men in total had been hit, one of whom was a police officer.

One of the men hit, a 44-year-old, died from his injuries.

The Daily News also reported that the driver rammed into the victim’s e-bike, and was pronounced dead later in the day.

The police did not name the suspect, but local media identified him as a man in his sixties who was known to the authorities and health services of the state of Nevada.

Monday’s incident took place as sentencing hearings opened in the case of an Uzbek man who killed eight people when he ploughed a rented truck down a Manhattan bike path in 2017. The perpetrator claimed to have acted in the name of the Islamic State in Iraq terrorist group. AFP

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