One dead after car drives into New York crowds

One dead after car drives into New York crowds
One person has been pronounced dead after a car drove onto the pavement in New York's packed Times Square.
2 min read
18 May, 2017
A 26-year-old man has been taken into police custody after one person died and at least 12 injured when a car drove onto a pavement in New York's packed Times Square and hit pedestrians.
The man is from the Bronx has a history of DWI arrests and license suspensions, according to NBC News.

Reports indicate that the car drove into oncoming traffic and onto the pavement, before crashing into barriers. 

The vehicle then caught fire.

A maroon sedan vehicle lay partially upended on its side on the pavement with smoke and flames spewing out of the bonnet, photographs on social media showed.

One person was pronounced dead according to local witnesses speaking to Reuters, while the driver was reportedly taken into custody.

Driver being taken into custody [Twitter]

The New York Police Department have closed off the area and had only confirmed that there were "mutliple injuries".

"Preliminarily it looks more like a vehicle accident than anything else," a New York police spokesperson said.

So far, police have not indicated that the incident was "terrorist related" but car rammings have become an increasingly common form of assault by militants, sparking fears initially.