Disturbing footage of 'wild eyed' driver crashing into Times Square
WARNING, DISTRESSING: Disturbing video has captured a driver, allegedly high on hallucinogenic drugs, crashing into pedestrians at high-speed in Times Square.
The driver was then seen getting out of the car and allegedly tried to fight passers by.
Footage uploaded to LiveLeak claims to show Richard Rojas, 26, driving on a sidewalk in a Honda sedan before the incident.
The car was slowed to a halt by safety posts, which potentially saved the lives of dozens of people.
Three people were still in critical condition with serious head injuries.
Alyssa Elsman, of Portage, Michigan, was killed in the crash and her 13-year-old sister was among the injured.
Rojas was arrested after the incident, which injured 22.
Rojas, who lived with his mother in the Bronx, is accused of driving his car from his home through Times Square on Thursday, then making a U-turn, steering his car onto a footpath and roaring back along it, ploughing through tourists for three blocks before crashing into protective barriers.
New York police say Rojas had been smoking marijuana laced with PCP, according to a criminal complaint.
Rojas made his first court appearance on Friday, a day after he was arrested in what police call an intentional attack.
"He murdered in cold blood," Assistant District Attorney Harrison Schweiloch said during the brief proceeding.
Rojas did not enter a plea and was held without bail.
His next court appearance is May 24.
Photographers snapped pictures of a wild-eyed Rojas after he climbed from the wrecked car and ran through the street waving his arms.
After he was detained, he said he wanted to "kill them all" and police should have shot him to stop him, a prosecutor told the court.
Officials are awaiting toxicology results, though Rojas "had glassy eyes, slurred speech, and was unsteady", during his arrest.
The hallucinogenic drug PCP can cause users to become delusional, violent or suicidal, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center.
