The incident occurred around 11 a.m. local time (5 p.m. Belgian time) in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn. The truck, a vehicle belonging to the U-Haul moving truck rental company, swerved onto the sidewalk and then struck several pedestrians and a cyclist. According to the CBS News, the driver is said to be a man in his 60s.
The police tried to stop the driver, but the latter rammed two police cars and was able to escape. In a second attempt, about five kilometers from the scene of the incident, officers managed to stop the vehicle and arrest the driver. As a precaution, the immediate area around the vehicle has been closed off. The police have checked whether there are explosives in the truck, but that is not the case.
“We don’t know a motive at this time, but it wasn’t an accident,” New York City Councilman Justin Brannan wrote on Twitter.
The incident is reminiscent of a similar drama in 2017, when a man, Sayfullo Saipov, drove his truck into a group of people in New York. The terrorist was found guilty across the board just over two weeks ago. Eight people were killed in the attack, including Ann-Laure Decadt (31) from Oostnieuwkerke in West Flanders.
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