At least 3 dead after alleged drunk driver mows down 10 pedestrians at NYC 4th of July party: ‘Can’t get the screaming out of my head’
A drunk driver allegedly mowed down 10 people — killing three — who were celebrating the Fourth of July on the Lower East Side Thursday, cops and police sources said.
Daniel Hyden, 44, of the Bronx, was charged with DWI early Friday, with further charges expected for the horror smash, sources told The Post.
The dead were identified by police as Lucille Pinkney, 59, and her son Hernan Pinkney, 38 — who lived together near the crash scene — while the third remained unidentified early Friday.
The other seven injured included a mother and her 11-year-old son, according to sources.
“I can’t get the screaming out of my head,” one rattled witness told The Post.
Multiple families were inside Corlears Hook Park when the driver allegedly sped a gray Ford F-150 through the Water Street and Jackson Street intersection, over the sidewalk and into the greenspace, cops said.
One neighborhood witness, who was in the park with his wife and sister-in-law, said the victims were enjoying a barbeque near the baseball field’s bleachers — which lies directly across the street from a stop sign the truck blew through.
“That’s where the truck crashed into. If you go straight, you drive exactly into that space and that’s exactly what happened,” said the man, who declined to share his name.
The pick-up — which weighs an average of 5,000 pounds — was resting on top of four victims when first responders arrived and used airbags, floor jacks and cribbing to free them.
The victims were rushed to Bellevue, New York Presbyterian Downtown, Mount Sinai Beth Israel and NYU Langone.
The driver, who was taken into custody, is also being evaluated at Bellevue.
Four are clinging to life and three others are in serious condition, FDNY Chief Michael Myers said. Two were treated with minor injuries.
Parkgoers who witnessed the tragedy jumped into action to restrain the drunk driver to prevent him from fleeing the scene, police said.
Officers smelled alcohol on the driver, saying they “believe that alcohol may have played a role in this.”
“I don’t understand how a person can get into a car intoxicated or people with them and let them drive. Knowing they can alter the lives of the people around them in such an intense and tragic way,” said the witness’ wife, who was hoping to show her out-of-town sister a fun Fourth of July.
Horrifying surveillance footage captured the truck barreling down the street with no signs of slowing down at the intersection just prior to the crash.
The car drove over the curb and into a fence — which did nothing to stop the speeding vehicle — sending sparks into the air as it hurled toward the family, the video shows.
When asked if nearby construction could have played a part in the tragedy, the two neighborhood witnesses shot down the notion.
“We’ve lived here for 20 years — there is a stop sign and the barricades for the construction are bright and orange. It’s dark, yes, but you can see these structures. The stop sign was there,” the woman said.
“The speed you need to be going, to be crashing into people … I’m actually still in shock.”
Abdo Yahya, a 30-year-old father of three who has lived in the neighborhood for 18 years, said his kids saw the police cars outside their window.
“Nothing like this has ever happened here before. I mean they fight. The argue. But nothing like this,” he said. “My kids are scared to go outside now.”
The tragedy is the second deadly drunken crash to plague New York in less than a week after four people were mowed down in Long Island on June 28.
The driver in that incident, Steven Schwally, 64, is accused of drunkenly smashing his minivan into a nail salon in Deer Park, trapping a slew of people inside.
Among those killed was a recently married NYPD officer, Emilia Rennhack, who was getting her nails done at the time.
