The Uzbek national who plowed through a New York bicycle path, killing eight people, was associated with Islamic State but "radicalised domestically," the state's governor Andrew Cuomo has said.

The suspect, 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov, was shot by police at the end of the rampage in lower Manhattan Tuesday but was expected to recover from his wounds.

"He's a depraved coward is what he is, and he was associated with ISIS, and he was radicalised domestically, and he's a depraved coward," Gov. Cuomo said..

The attacker struck just a few blocks from the site of the World Trade Center memorial, running over afternoon riders on the path before reaching a road and ploughing into a school bus.

He then jumped out of the truck wielding what turned out to be a pellet gun, and a paintball gun. He was chased and shot in the stomach by a police officer but survived and was arrested.

The suspect has been identified as Mr Saipov, 29, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, who arrived in the US in 2010. He has a Florida driver's license but was reportedly living in Paterson, New Jersey, with family, sources told local media.