New York City police arrested a man with a history of mental illness, for driving a U-Haul truck erratically onto sidewalks in Brooklyn in a “violent rampage” and injuring at least eight people on Monday, according to reports.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell spoke during a press conference on Monday afternoon at Columbia Street and Hamilton Avenue in Brooklyn, in front of the U-Haul truck that NYPD officers were able to stop.
Members of the NYPD bomb squad pause before approaching a rental truck that was stopped and the driver arrested, Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, in New York. Police stopped a U-Haul truck and detained the driver after reports that the vehicle struck multiple pedestrians in New York City on Monday. Authorities say the driver of the truck fled the scene after mounting a sidewalk in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn and injuring several people. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
“Here behind us is a U-Haul truck stopped successfully by the NYPD, ending a violent rampage through Brooklyn that left at least eight people injured,” the commissioner said.
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Officers were dispatched to a man driving a U-Haul truck and striking several people in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn at about 10:50 a.m. After a pursuit, officers were able to get the truck to stop near the entrance to the Battery Tunnel into Manhattan.
Initially Sewell said the department would not be releasing the suspect’s name.
New York Police gather at the scene where a rental truck was stopped and the driver arrested, Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, in New York. Police stopped a U-Haul truck and detained the driver after reports that the vehicle struck multiple pedestrians in New York City on Monday. Authorities say the driver of the truck fled the scene after mounting a sidewalk in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn and injuring several people. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
The New York Post reported that police sources said the driver of the truck yelled, “Shoot me. I’m not stopping,” to the law enforcement officers trying to pull him over during the high-speed chase.
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Police did not immediately release the suspect’s name, but according to the Associated Press, the man’s son identified him as Weng Sor, adding that he has a history of mental illness.
“Very frequently he’ll choose to skip out on his medications and do something like this,” Stephen Sor, 30, told the AP in an interview outside his Brooklyn home. “This isn’t the first time he’s been arrested. It’s not the first time he’s gone to jail.”
Weng Sor, according to court records, was sentenced to one to three years in a Nevada prison for stabbing his brother in Las Vegas in 2015.
New York Police gather at the scene where a rental truck was stopped and the driver arrested, Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, in New York. Police stopped a U-Haul truck and detained the driver after reports that the vehicle struck multiple pedestrians in New York City on Monday. Authorities say the driver of the truck fled the scene after mounting a sidewalk in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn and injuring several people. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Although the events on Monday are still being reviewed, Sewell noted that eight people were struck, two of whom were listed in critical condition. Two others were listed in serious condition, while the remaining four sustained minor injuries.
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He also said seven of the people who were struck by the truck are civilians and the eighth person was a police officer.
The chief told reporters that the department knew little about the suspect, but as far as the incident, there are nearly seven scenes that are being processed from Bay Ridge to the Battery Tunnel entrance.
NYPD on scene after a U-Haul reportedly crashed into pedestrians in Brooklyn. (WNYW)
The incident coincided with the start of the death penalty phase in the trial of Sayfullo Saipov, an Islamic extremist who killed eight people in 2017 by mowing them down with a truck.
It was not immediately clear whether the two events were related.
Sewell said the department would not be releasing the name of the suspect at this time, and there was no indication that the incident was an act of terrorism.
“…As always, we will continue to investigate this incident with the full resources of the NYPD and our partners,” he said. “What we saw today is a clear example why every moment of every day the NYPD must be prepared for every possibility.”
