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Times Square: Speeding vehicle strikes pedestrians in New York City

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A driver with a history of drunken driving arrests ploughed through crowds of pedestrians on packed sidewalks along three Times Square blocks on Thursday, killing one person and injuring 22 others, officials said, touching off mayhem in one of the world's most famous and busiest plazas.

The driver, Richard Rojas, 26, was taken into custody after a traffic agent tackled him as he fled from his car, a maroon Honda that came to a stop after ramming into stanchions at the corner of 45th Street and Broadway about noon, local time.

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Car slams into Times Square pedestrians

A speeding car plowed into pedestrians on a sidewalk in New York City's busy Times Square on Thursday, killing one person and injuring 22, and authorities said there was no indication it was an act of terrorism.

The panic provoked by a car speeding on sidewalks in the heart of Manhattan immediately evoked the spectre of terrorism, but law enforcement officials said they had determined that did not seem to have a role in the episode.

"Based on information we have at this moment, there is no indication that this was an act of terrorism," Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters at a news conference in Times Square. "We all feel deeply right now for those who were injured and for their families."

A few blocks away from where the mayor spoke, the Honda sat tilted on bollards, its right wheels in the air and its front hood crumpled, as detectives and investigators canvassed the area.

Alyssa Elsman, an 18-year-old tourist from Portage in Michigan, was visiting New York with her mother and 13-year-old sister, and was walking along the pavement when she was hit and killed by the speeding car.

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Ms Elsman's sister was also struck by the car but survived, police said.

Officials said that the deadly rampage had begun around noon near 42nd Street, when Rojas, travelling south on Seventh Avenue, inexplicably made a quick U-turn, mounted a curb on the west side of the one-way avenue and began to drive north against traffic.

Witnesses described their horror at seeing a car race through the area, which was thronged with tourists, workers and other passers-by on a sultry afternoon.

Annie Donahey, 24, had just left work on Seventh Avenue between 42nd and 43rd streets when the car sped past her and slammed into pedestrians on the sidewalk.

"It was going at a fast rate of speed and to me it looked like it was trying to hit as many people as possible," she said. "People were trying to jump out of the way."

One of the injured, Cheryl Howard, had blood dripping down her right arm and a bruise above her left eye. She and her daughter were shopping when the car sped toward them.

"I'm so freaked out!" Howard's daughter said. "They mowed everyone down."

Four other people were critically injured after sustaining multiple fractures and traumas, Daniel P. Nigro, the fire commissioner, said. They were taken to two different hospitals. Three other people were also taken to hospitals in serious condition. The other victims had less serious injuries.

No Australians are believed to have been involved, according to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who described it as a terrible incident.

"My understanding is that no Australians were involved but of course our consular staff are keeping a very close watch on that," Ms Bishop told reporters in New York.

Rojas, who lives in the Bronx, had not been formally charged by Thursday afternoon. He was scheduled to undergo testing for the presence of drugs or alcohol in his system, officials said.

Rojas, a Navy veteran, was arrested for drunken driving twice, in Queens in 2008, and in Manhattan in 2015, officials said. He was also recently arrested for menacing, officials said.

A few hours after the Times Square incident, about 20 police officers and detectives occupied the sidewalk outside the six-story red brick building where Rojas lives.

Rojas returned from his Navy service with a drinking problem and had posted "crazy stuff" on social media, said a friend, Harrison Ramos, speaking to Reuters outside the apartment building where Rojas lives in New York City's Bronx borough.

"Don't make him out to be a terrorist or something," Ramos said. "He served his country and when he came back, nobody helped him."

Rojas attended college and works in real estate, Ramos said.

"He went through a real tough time," Ramos said, adding that he had lost contact with Rojas. "That's my friend. I care about him, and it hurts."

Sharif White, who sells T-shirts and hats at the corner of 44th Street and Seventh Avenue, stood next to a woman who was lying on her back on a sidewalk and surrounded by paramedics.

"It hit her," White said of the car, pointing to the woman, who was moaning in pain. "And it hit a couple of other people. Then the next thing I know it went straight down to 45th. It just was doing like about 100 mph and then the car crashed."

The car's bumper sat nearby in the middle of the sidewalk. Magdy Tawfik, a hot dog vendor whose stand was near the corner, said the car had hit three people there.

"The car sped through here, it was moving so fast, and it crushed all these people," he said.

A victim in a neck brace was taken away in a wheelchair.

"People were being hit and rolling off the car," said Josh Duboff, an employee at the adjacent Thomson Reuters headquarters who jumped out of the way to avoid being struck.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said President Trump has been updated on the incident.

Times Square was evacuated in May 2010 when a car bomb that failed to explode was found in an SUV. Faisal Shahzad, a naturalised American and Taliban-trained militant, later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Six months ago the city completed a $US55 million, nearly six-year renovation of Times Square that turned roadways into pedestrian zones. It aimed to improve traffic congestion and safety, but not all sidewalks were fitted with safety bollards or barriers to vehicles.

New York Times, Reuters