Car Plows Into NYC Trick-or-Treaters, Kills 3

Halloween turns horrific in Bronx neighborhood
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 1, 2015 6:02 AM CST
Car Plows Into NYC Trick-or-Treaters, Kills 3
First responders examine an automobile after its driver lost control and plowed into a group of trick-or-treaters in New York, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015. Three people were killed.   (AP Photo/David Greene)

A street full of trick-or-treaters turned into a Halloween horror scene when an out-of-control car jumped a curb and careened into a group of costumed revelers, killing three people, including a 10-year-old girl and her grandfather. The crash injured three other trick-or-treaters, along with the driver, police said. Witnesses described hearing a loud boom, followed by screaming and crying, then seeing a trail of mangled bodies in crumpled, bloodied costumes. "I saw a torso on the sidewalk. I didn't know if it was a Halloween dummy or a real person," a neighbor told the New York Post. "I just grabbed a whole bunch of towels and ran outside." A 52-year-old man driving the black Dodge Charger plowed into the pedestrians and smashed through a fence in front of a home, police said. The car was left teetering on a brick wall.

Moments before, the driver had crossed a double yellow line after bumping into a Toyota Camry, police said. "I heard the boom, and the car like literally jumped over a parked car and flew into the gate, hitting a bunch of people," a witness told WABC-TV. Sixty-five-year-old Louis Perez suffered severe head trauma and died at the scene. His granddaughter, 10-year-old Nyanna Aquil, and 24-year-old Kristian Leka, were taken to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Authorities said a 3-year-old girl was critically injured. A 21-year-old woman, a 9-year-old girl, and the driver of the car also were taken to the hospital. "The little girl in the cat costume, she was hurt, she was screaming," the neighbor told WNBC-TV. "It just didn't look real ... like this is a Halloween joke." No charges have been filed. (More Halloween stories.)

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