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The driver who caused the deadly car crash in New York's Times Square 'may have acted deliberately' and telling police 'he heard voices in his head telling him to hurt people'.

Police say they are considering the possibility that the crash was deliberate after Richard Rojas, 26, ploughed into 23 people, killing one.

As Rojas was being arrested, police said he was acting out of control and seemed impaired, NBC New York reports.

Rojas reportedly told police he heard 'demons in his head' and 'voices telling him to hurt people', sources told the news station, adding he has a history of psychiatric problems.

(Image: ABC7NY)

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Authorities do not believe the crash was terror-related.

Tragic teenager Alyssa Elsman, 18, had been enjoying a visit to New York with her family when she was hit by driver Richard Rojas.

He drove the wrong way down a street in the heart of the city, before mounting the pavement in Times Square, ploughing through pedestrians.

(Image: Instagram)

Miss Elsman was killed and a further 22 people were injured.

She posted a 'Boomerang' video - a short clip which repeats - from Times Square on her Instagram page on Thursday.

A clock in the video indicates the time is 11.12am - around 45 minutes before the carnage.

(Image: Facebook)

(Image: Facebook)

Authorities said there is no indication the incident was an act of terrorism.

Rojas, a US Navy veteran from the Bronx, has a history of drink driving.

Witnesses said he mounted the sidewalk in a burgundy Honda sedan and sped along for more than three city blocks, knocking people over before the car hit a pole and came to rest at 45th Street and Broadway in Midtown Manhattan.

(Image: Charles Guerin/Best Image/Vantagenews.com) (Image: Charles Guerin/Best Image/Vantagenews.com)

Rojas said he had been arrested twice for drunken driving in 2008 and 2015, and once earlier this month on a charge of menacing.

Initial reports of the incident instantly brought fears of terror attacks involving vehicles in recent months in Britain, France, Germany, Israel and Sweden.

Security camera footage showed the car slam into pedestrians who moments earlier were ambling along, some carrying shopping bags and others pushing baby strollers.

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: REUTERS)

The incident took place close to noon local time, on a bright, sunny day.

"People were being hit and rolling off the car," said Josh Duboff, who works at the nearby Thomson Reuters headquarters.

He leapt out of the way to avoid being struck.

Shoes were scattered on the sidewalk.

(Image: @marc_palladino/Twitter)

(Image: @gb__/Twitter) (Image: @gb__/Twitter)

The body of Miss Elsman, from Ohio, lay covered with a bloodstained blanket.

A police officer kept vigil nearby, sadly shaking his head.

Hundreds of thousands of people, many of them tourists from around the world, pass daily through Times Square, the heart of the Broadway theater district.

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."