2 dead after suspected drunk driver mows down 7 pedestrians in NYC: police

A drunk driver is believed to have struck nine people, killing two, as they celebrated the Fourth of July on the Lower East Side on Thursday, police sources said.

According to sources, the victims include a mother and her two small children.

Several families were in Corlears Hook Park when a gray Ford F-150 sped through the intersection of Water and Jackson streets at a high rate of speed, careening across the sidewalk and into the green space, police told reporters.

The pickup truck – which weighs an average of 2.3 tons – was lying on top of four victims when rescue workers arrived and freed them using airbags, jacks and support beams.

Three victims were taken to Bellevue and three others to New York Hospital Downtown.

Four of them are clinging to their lives and three others are in serious condition, FDNY Chief Michael Myers said. Two were treated for minor injuries.

Two people were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, including a 41-year-old woman.

The surviving victims included a mother and her two “young” children, but police could not say whether they were the ones trapped under the drunk driver’s truck.

Park visitors who witnessed the tragedy immediately intervened to restrain the drunk driver and prevent him from fleeing the scene of the accident, police said.

Officers detected an odor of alcohol on the driver and said they “believe alcohol may have played a role.”

The driver was arrested. Police did not identify the person, but sources say he is from the Bronx.

The investigation is ongoing.