NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on a car striking pedestrians in Times Square (all times local):
8:55 p.m.
A quick-acting restaurant worker played a key role in stopping a fleeing driver who mowed down pedestrians on a Times Square sidewalk.
Ken Bradix has been a bouncer at Planet Hollywood for 17 years. He says he was walking toward the eatery Thursday when the car barreled down the sidewalk and hit a pole, and driver Richard Rojas got out and started running away.
Bradix says Rojas was screaming and swinging his arms and got away from three people who tried to grab him. So, Bradix says, he tackled the 26-year-old from the side, taking him to the ground. Police then handcuffed him.
Planet Hollywood says Bradix “selflessly and heroically took action, helping to stop the fleeing suspect.”
It isn’t clear when Rojas might get a lawyer.
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7:25 p.m.
A man who sent his car careening onto a Times Square sidewalk filled with pedestrians had been court-martialed out of the Navy.
A Navy official says Richard Rojas had been discharged as the result of a special court martial. Details of the circumstances were not immediately available.
The 26-year-old was in custody Thursday.
An 18-year-old Michigan woman died and 22 other people were injured when the vehicle barreled up the sidewalk.
Rojas enlisted in the Navy in 2011 and was an electrician’s mate fireman apprentice. He was most recently based at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, and was discharged in 2014.
Navy records also show he spent two months at a naval brig in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2013. They don’t indicate why.
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6:55 p.m.
Police say an 18-year-old woman killed by a car that plowed through pedestrians in Times Square was a tourist from Portage, Michigan.
Alyssa Elsman died Thursday when a man drove his car down the sidewalk for three blocks into the heart of New York City’s theater district.
Twenty three people were struck by the car before it was stopped by a security barrier.
Police say Elsman’s 13-year-old sister was among the people who were struck but survived.
Police identify the driver of the car as Richard Rojas, a Navy veteran from the Bronx. They say he was captured at the scene and arrested. He’s in custody.
Two law enforcement officials say Rojas told officers he was hearing voices. They spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
- By Tom Hays and Colleen Long
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4:55 p.m.
Friends of a man suspected of plowing his car into pedestrians in Times Square say he’d been going through a rough time.
Twenty-six-year-old Richard Rojas was taken into custody Thursday after the crash that killed a teenager and injured 22 other people.
Friend Harrison Ramos told reporters that Rojas hadn’t been the same since he returned from active duty in the Navy. He says Rojas was posting “crazy stuff” online that has since been taken down.
Other friends say he was having money troubles.
One neighbor says Rojas is a “good person” and he doesn’t know what happened to him.
Two law enforcement officials say Rojas told officers he was hearing voices. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
- By Tom Hays and Colleen Long
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4:35 p.m.
Two law enforcement officials say a driver accused of running down pedestrians in Times Square told officers he was hearing voices and expected to die.
Authorities say Richard Rojas was taken into custody Thursday after mowing down 23 people, including a teenager who died.
The two law enforcement officials say Rojas tested negative for alcohol, but drug tests were still pending.
The officials weren’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Police say the 26-year-old Navy veteran was arrested last week after he pointed a knife at a notary and accused the notary of stealing his identity.
One official says Rojas told authorities when arrested previously that he believed he was being followed.
It isn’t clear when Rojas might get a lawyer.
Terrorism isn’t suspected in the crash.
- By Tom Hays and Colleen Long
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1:45 p.m.
Police say a 26-year-old U.S. Navy veteran with two prior arrests for driving while intoxicated has been taken in custody after his car plowed into 23 pedestrians in Times Square, killing one of them.
Witnesses said Richard Rojas appeared to be intoxicated, and he was taken into custody Thursday afternoon. Witnesses reported that he drove the wrong way and on a sidewalk for at least three blocks, mowing down pedestrians.
Rojas was in custody and unable to comment. Police Commissioner James O’Neill says the crash doesn’t appear to be related to terrorism.
Police say the Bronx man was being tested for alcohol and drugs.
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1:20 p.m.
Witnesses in Times Square watched in horror as car plowed over pedestrians, killing one and injuring 19 others.
Brooklyn resident Asa (AY-suh) Lowe was standing outside the Levi’s store enjoying the weather when he heard screaming around midday Thursday. He turned around and saw the car hitting people on the sidewalk.
He says the driver was “just mowing down people. He didn’t stop.”
The car hit a barricade and stopped. Lowe says the driver then got out of his car and started running until people tackled him.
Lowe saw injured people, including a woman who “had tracks all over her body.”
Police say a 26-year-old man was in custody and was suspected of driving while intoxicated.
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12:55 p.m.
The White House says that President Donald Trump has been “made aware” that a car plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in Times Square and that he will continue to receive updates as the situation unfolds.
New York City law enforcement officials say at least one person was killed after a car traveling through the popular tourist area drove into a crowd of pedestrians around lunchtime Thursday. About 20 other people were injured.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer tweeted that Trump was briefed before New York authorities confirmed the death.
Officials say the driver is in custody and being tested for alcohol.
Trump is holding a news conference at the White House later Thursday with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.
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12:40 p.m.
A law enforcement official says a car that plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in Times Square killed one person and injured about 20 others.
The official told The Associated Press that the driver was taken into custody after the Thursday lunchtime crash and is being tested for alcohol.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
Police do not suspect a link to terrorism.
Television images taken at the scene showed people being taken away on stretchers.
The car came to rest with two of its wheels in the air, leaning on a lamppost and steel barriers intended to block vehicles from getting onto the sidewalk.
- By Colleen Long
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12:20 p.m.
A car traveling through Times Square has driven into a crowd of pedestrians, injuring several people.
Television images taken at the scene midday Thursday showed people being taken away on stretchers.
The car came to rest with two of its wheels in the air, leaning on a lamppost and steel barriers intended to block vehicles from getting onto the sidewalk.
There was no immediate word from New York City police on the number of people who were hurt.
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