NEW YORK (AP) — A man driving a stolen SUV struck a group of pedestrians on a sidewalk while fleeing from police Tuesday on a busy Manhattan street near Grand Central Terminal, injuring 10 people who all were expected to survive, authorities said.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene during the afternoon rush hour near the corner of Lexington Avenue and East 42nd Street in Midtown, also near the Chrysler Building and the Hyatt Grand Central New York hotel. The worst of the injuries was a fractured ankle, police and fire officials said at an evening news conference at the scene.
Police were alerted to a stolen vehicle by a license plate scanner at about 5:30 p.m. and tried to stop the SUV, which initially appeared to be pulling over, officials said.
The vehicle drove off, struck a bicyclist and a taxi and then went up on a sidewalk and hit the pedestrians while making a U-turn on Lexington, police said. The SUV then drove the wrong way on Lexington and struck another vehicle head-on, police said. Officers said the SUV’s speeds were low because of traffic.
The driver of the SUV, which was reported stolen out of the Bronx on Monday, was a 20-year-old man who was detained at the scene by bystanders until police arrived. Police say the man did not have a New York driver’s license.
Police did not take questions at the news conference and said the investigation was ongoing.
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