A 70-year-old minivan driver trying to parallel park allegedly struck a crowd of pedestrians in Manhattan Monday evening, killing one of them and injuring six others, police say, and he now faces charges in the deadly crash.
The driver, later identified by police as Henry Herman, somehow lost control while trying to park near Canal and Forsyth Street just before 7 p.m., the NYPD said. The minivan jumped the sidewalk, and while in reverse, crashed into a fruit stand, killing a man and injuring six other pedestrians. Two of those pedestrians were critically injured and four others had non-life threatening injuries. They were taken to Bellevue Hospital.
Two other people on the scene refused medical assistance, the FDNY says.
Two senior police officials say Herman claimed he thought he was in park and hit the gas pedal, the officials said. He stayed on the scene, and there were no indications it was deliberate.
He was arrested Monday night on charges of failure to yield to pedestrians and failure to exercise due care. He was given a desk appearance ticket. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could comment.
The NYPD has shut down roads in the area as they investigate; they’re asking drivers to avoid the area until further notice and expect heavy delays.
Mayor de Blasio tweeted Monday night that a full NYPD investigation is underway.
“We cannot accept loss of life on our streets as inevitable,” he said. “We will continue working harder every day to reach #VisionZero.”
