Disturbing video showing a man believed to be high on illegal substances driving a car at high speeds through a crowded area of Times Square and emerging from his vehicle to fight civilians has surfaced on the Internet.
The suspect has been identified as 26-year-old Richard Rojas of the Bronx. The shocking footage shows a maroon Honda Sedan hurtling through the sidewalk of the highly-populated area of New York City when it is immediately brought to halt by traffic blocks.
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The safety posts were able to stop the vehicle before hitting dozens of civilians just feet away. After slamming into the post, Rojas emerged from the vehicle. He was filmed crazily flailing his arms while trying to fight people standing nearby.
Only seconds before slamming to a stop, Rojas ran over a crowd of pedestrians. 22 people were injured. One girl was killed and three of the victims are still in critical condition.
“They were screaming, yelling, running,” a vendor selling t-shirt on Seventh Avenue named Sharief White said. “It was running over everybody that was in front of the car.”
The initial speculation was that the incident was a terrorist attack. The idea was a natural guess given the highly-populated area and the damage done by vehicles in recent terrorist attacks overseas. However, this was not the case.
“Based on information we have at this moment, there is no indication that this was an act of terrorism,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a news conference.
An 18-year-old woman from Portage, Michigan named Alyssa Elsman was killed in the rampage. Her 13-year-old sister also sustained injuries.
A security guard spoke out about watching the horrific moment take place from the lobby windows at a building 44th Street and Seventh Avenue.
“She just hit the floor and he went over her,” the guard said.
“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,” a 24-year-old witness named Annie Donahey 24 said. “People were trying to jump out of the way.”
A photographer in the area pulled out his camera and began snapping pictures. He unknowingly captured images of Rojas trying to flee from the cops.
“I thought the driver was still inside the car,” Charles Guerin said.
Asa Lowe of Brooklyn was standing outside a store in the area when he heard screaming.
“Rojas is just mowing people down,” he said. “He didn’t stop. He just kept going.”
After hitting the barricade, Rojas then climbed out of the vehicle and began running around the street.
“He just started running until people tackled him down,” Lowe said. “Citizens just reacted.”
A CitySightSeeing ticketing agent named Alpha Balde was one of the civilians who helped tackle Rojas.
“We saw the driver running toward Planet Hollywood,” he said. “The bouncer from Planet Hollywood knocked him out. He knocked him out so bad you could see the blood coming out of his face. That’s when I jumped in, I grabbed him from his neck and within about one minute everybody’s there.
After getting into a fistfight with a police officer, the cops, along with the help of some pedestrians, were able to arrest Rojas. He allegedly told the police that he wanted to murder the innocent people on the streets and wanted the cops to kill him.”
“I ripped off his shirt to make sure this guy doesn’t have anything under his shirt that’s going to damage you,” he said.
“You were supposed to shoot me. I wanted to kill them,” he reportedly said, according to the New York Post.
Rojas, who is a former Navy electrician, reportedly told the police that he smoked marijuana laced with the hallucinogenic drug PCP before the crash. When the cops tested him at the precinct, Rojas blew a 0.0 when tested for alcohol.
On Thursday night, the police charged Rojas with 1 count of murder, 20 counts of attempted murder and five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, according to Daily Mail.
Rojas has a criminal record with a history of violence. He was arrested in both 2008 and 2015 for driving under the influence. Just last week, he was arrested for pulling a knife on a man whom he thought was trying to steal his identity.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke out by saying: “Today’s events at Times Square were nothing short of horrific. As the facts continue to emerge, my heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy, as well as their families.”
[H/T Daily Mail, New York Post]
