Two dead and nine injured after truck collides with group celebrating July 4 in Manhattan park

Two people were killed and nine others injured, four of them seriously, when a pickup truck drove into a group celebrating Independence Day on July 4 in New York City, authorities said.

Just before 9 p.m. Thursday, a Ford F-150 was traveling down a street “at a high rate of speed.” The truck passed through an intersection and a stop sign, drove onto the sidewalk and into Corlears Hook Park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, New York Police Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said during a news conference.

The deaths of two victims were confirmed at the scene, Maddrey said.

Among the injured, four people were in critical condition, three seriously injured and two slightly injured, said New York Fire Department Deputy Chief Michael Meyers.

The first fire crew to arrive on the scene found the pickup truck lying on top of four of the victims and firefighters worked to quickly free them before emergency personnel began treatment, Meyers said.

Investigators do not believe the crash was a terrorist attack, Maddrey and New York Mayor Eric Adams said in a press conference at the scene of the accident.

Authorities tested the driver for possible alcohol consumption, which was believed to be a factor in the accident, Maddrey said.

Police were not immediately able to determine the age of the victims, Maddrey said.