At least eight people were injured Monday in New York after a man driving a van hit them at various locations in the megalopolis, police said, who ruled out a “terrorist” motive at the time.
The local press quickly mobilized when the New York City Police Department (NYPD) reported being confronted late Monday morning with the refusal of a driver of a rental car who struck and struck several pedestrians in Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs of the megalopolis .
Police officers tried to stop the vehicle, which continued on its way, overturning others in several spots in the neighborhood before being pursued and its driver eventually arrested.
A total of seven people and one police officer were injured, two of whom are in critical condition. Of the eight injured, three were driving small mopeds, police said.
“There is no evidence of terrorism involvement in this case,” New York City Police Department Chief Keechant Sewell said during a brief press briefing at the site in Brooklyn.
But “we know very little about this case at the moment,” added the New York City Police Chief, deeply scarred by terrorism and ultra-sensitive to warnings about attacks.
In addition, Monday noon’s incident occurred at the opening of a trial in Manhattan against an Uzbek man who risks the death penalty for killing eight people whom he voluntarily knocked down and crushed at the wheel of his pickaxe on October 31, 2017-up, an attack on behalf of the group “Islamic State”.