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Suddenly, there was a car where no car should be: plowing through the sidewalk crowds that had swelled in Times Square on a spectacular sun-filled day.
And it was moving fast.
By the time it rammed into a bollard, an 18-year-old woman was dead, 22 other people were injured and the heart of Manhattan had been turned into a scene of panic and carnage. The car, a maroon Honda Accord, had traveled along the sidewalk for more than three blocks.
“They were screaming, yelling, running,” said Sharief White, a vendor who was selling T-shirts and hats at Seventh Avenue and 44th Street and saw the Honda speed into the crowd. “It was running over everybody that was in front of the car.”
Unfolding in one of the city’s most crowded and high-profile areas, the episode instantly raised the specter of terrorism. An attempted car-bomb attack in Times Square in 2010 remains a potent memory for many, and recent terrorist attacks overseas have shown the damage that vehicles can do when used as weapons.
A security guard at a building at 44th Street and Seventh Avenue said he had watched through the lobby windows as the Honda sped past and drove over a woman.
“She just hit the floor and he went over her,” said the guard, who did not give his name.
Other witnesses described their horror at seeing terrified bystanders scramble for safety.
“It was going at a fast rate of speed and to me it looked like it was trying to hit as many people as possible,” said Annie Donahey, 24, who had just left work. “People were trying to jump out of the way.”
The car raced on, crossing 45th Street before smashing into barriers in front of the Marriott Marquis Hotel. The driver tried to escape, but he was quickly surrounded.
“He started trying to run away,” said Asa Lowe, 42, who had been walking on Seventh Avenue. “Traffic cops grabbed him. Regular citizens grabbed him. We became the city we need to be today.”
READ MORE HERE - https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/nyregion/times-square-crash.html?_r=0
Horrible.
