NEW YORK (INTELLIHUB) — 26-year-old U.S. Navy veteran Richard Rojas was found to have no alcohol in his system when he plowed through a downtown crowd of pedestrians with his vehicle late Thursday morning just before attempting to flee the scene on foot where he was apprehended by a group of good samaritans.

One eyewitness, a ticket agent who claimed to have searched the suspect just before police arrived, said that Rojas did not smell of alcohol but said he appeared to be hyped up. The ticket agent said that the “bouncer from Planet Hollywood” hit the man giving them an opportunity to take him down.

The ticket agent said that the “bouncer from Planet Hollywood” physically struck the man giving the two men an opportunity to take the suspect down.

“We jumped on top of him […] and ripped the shirt,” the eyewitness explained.

Another man by the name of Anthony claims he was “grazed” by the out of control vehicle said he thinks that it was “another jihad attack.”

The man said that the screams of other people served as a warning to him and that they saved his life.

“My educated guess is that it’s probably terrorism,” he said.

“There were people on the ground […] I saw one person with a compound fracture, meaning that his bone was sticking out of his leg.”

New York City Mayor Bil de Blasio calmed people’s fears and told reporters that there is “no indication that this was an act of terrorism” and acknowledged that Thursday was a “tough day for New York City.”

Another man by the name of Bruno who also witnessed the incident unfold was interviewed by a reporter afterward when he explained that the car would have continued on into Times Square if it would not have been stopped by a few small traffic barrier poles which were positioned in just the right place.

The young man said that the out of control vehicle basically made its own path through the crowd as it ran down pedestrians.

“There was blood everywhere […] it was a terrible scene,” he said. “Everybody was like really stunned.”

Footage from the scene shows the vehicle making a right-hand u-turn across the intersection against the flow of traffic before accelerating down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street in an erratic manner.

Additionally, the Guardian reported that the suspect told police that he ‘heard voices.’

Was this an accident or an attack?

Was the #TimesSquare incident an accident or an attack? — Intellihub (@intellihubnews) May 19, 2017

H/T: Tabertronic/Twitter

Featured Image: Samuel Ioannidis/Flickr

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