World News | 8 injured in U-Haul driver’s ‘outrage’ in NYC, police say

NEW YORK, Feb. 14 (AP) — A man driving a U-Haul truck swerved onto the sidewalk and slammed into a motorcyclist in New York City on Monday, injuring multiple people before police were able to secure the tilted vehicle. On the building a mile later – the long quest through Brooklyn.

At least eight people were injured, two of them seriously. The driver was arrested. His son identified him as Weng Sor, 62, a troubled man with a history of violence and imprisonment.

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New York City Police Chief Keechant Sewell described the driver’s actions as a “violent rampage” but said there was no evidence “terrorism was involved.”

The truck sped through the Bay Ridge neighborhood, near the entrance to a tunnel that runs from Brooklyn to Manhattan, before being pulled over by police more than 5 kilometers away.

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Stephen Saul, 30, Onsol’s son, told The Associated Press that his father had a history of mental illness and, until recently, lived in Las Vegas.

“He would often choose to skip his meds and do things like this,” Stephen Saul said in an interview outside his Brooklyn home. “It’s not the first time he’s been arrested. It’s not the first time he’s been in jail.”

Police said the first report of the truck hitting pedestrians and cyclists was received at 10:30 a.m., followed by other reports as the vehicle drove through a busy section of Brooklyn.

Katherine Aronova said she saw the U-Haul run a red light, hit a delivery man on an e-bike in the middle of the road, and drag him a short distance.

“He had blood all over his face. He was unconscious,” Aronova said, with his shoes scattered on the pavement. “E-bikes are totally destroyed.”

Security camera video showed the truck crashing into a scooter before swerving onto the pavement, narrowly missing a pedestrian, who pulled to safety just in time. A police patrol car then followed the truck down the sidewalk at high speed.

Witness Andrea Vasquez said in Spanish: “I was in shock and I didn’t know what happened until I saw the police patrol chasing it.” “Thank God the man saved himself,” she added Say, the one who narrowly escaped.

Aerial video from a news helicopter showed the truck parked on the sidewalk after the chase, its path blocked by a police car. Authorities inspected the vehicle to make sure there were no explosives inside.

A police officer who handled the incident was among those injured, Sewell said.

Bay Ridge, a melting pot of European, Asian, and Middle Eastern immigrants, is located just north of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York Harbor.

It’s best known as the filming location for the 1977 John Travolta film “Saturday Night Fever,” and as the home of Tom Selleck’s police chief on the TV show “Blue Bloods.” Every fall, it hosts the New York City Marathon.

Stephen Sor described his relationship with his father as “unstable” and said his father had a history of mental illness and was free from drugs and misconduct. He said he doesn’t speak to his father very often and was surprised when he showed up in Brooklyn in the middle of the night about a week ago.

“I try to keep my distance as long as he doesn’t bother us,” Saul said.

Onso’s criminal record stretches back nearly two decades.

In 2015, he stabbed his brother in Las Vegas and served about 17 months in a Nevada prison, according to court and prison records. In 2020, he stabbed someone in the arm and chest with a knife and was sentenced to serve 364 days in the county jail, and he has served about 10 months.

Before pleading guilty in the case, Saul was evaluated in a state psychiatric hospital for several months until he was proven fit to face charges, court records show. The records do not list a possible diagnosis, but note that Sor was treated with medication.

In the earlier Nevada case, Saul was ordered to receive counseling and perform community service after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery in 2005. The judge noted that he will soon be moving to New York and ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation once he arrives in New York. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)