Car Strikes Crowd of Pedestrians in New York’s Times Square

A car has struck a crowd of pedestrians in one of New York’s biggest tourist attractions, but early reports indicate the incident is not an act of terrorism.

Reuters reports that a speeding car hit a group of pedestrians on a sidewalk in Times Square Thursday, at around noon. The car crashed into a pole at 45th Street and Broadway before police took the driver away.

“People were being hit and rolling off the car,” Josh Duboff, an employee at the Thomson Reuters headquarters, told Reuters. Duboff had to jump out of the way in order to avoid being struck.

According to CNN, the car was out of control before striking the pedestrians, with witnesses on social media describing a speeding car plowing into people before a crash.

The New York Times reports that officials said the 26-year-old driver was either drunk or impaired by drugs, and had been previously arrested for drunken driving. Officials said that preliminary evidence indicates that the incident is not related to terrorism. A spokesperson for the police department told the times that the driver of the car had been taken into custody.

“Based on information we have at this moment, there is no indiciation that this was an act of terrorism,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told the Times at a press conference.

At least one person was killed and 22 injured, according to reports at press time.

About 360,000 visitors passed through Times Square each day in April, according to the Times Square Alliance.

Keep visiting www.travelagentcentral.com for further updates on this developing story.