BY JACKSON CHEN | A Michigan teenager was killed and at least 22 were injured in Times Square when Richard Rojas, a 26-year-old Navy veteran, plowed into the crowds on the pedestrian plaza at around noon on Thurs., May 18, officials said.
Rojas, who has two prior arrests for driving while intoxicated and admitted to police that he was high on marijuana laced with PCP, was charged later that day with murder, 20 counts of attempted murder, and aggravated vehicular homicide for driving his 2009 maroon Honda Accord into Times Square.
Police identified Alyssa Elsman as the 18-year-old tourist from Michigan who died at the scene. Of the 22 injured was Elsman’s sister, Ava, who was being treated for a collapsed lung and broken pelvis, according to NYPD chief of Manhattan South detectives William Aubry. He added that three victims were in critical condition and a 38-year-old woman from Canada was in very critical condition.
Rojas was driving southbound on Seventh Ave. when he made a U-turn at W. 42nd St. and then sped onto the sidewalk of Broadway, officials said.
Rojas eventually crashed into the metal stanchions at the corner of W. 45th St. and Broadway, leaving his vehicle lopsided, propped up by the metal supports, and emitting white smoke. The driver attempted to flee, but was caught and held down by Good Samaritans and a traffic enforcement officer until police arrived and arrested Rojas, officials said.
“I just want to apologize to all the victim’s families… I just want to apologize to my mom,” Rojas said in a jailhouse interview with the New York Post, during which he also noted he was trying to get help. The Navy vet told the paper that his day started as normal after having a meal with his mom and then wanting to take a drive to clear his head. Rojas added that he didn’t remember anything from the incident.
While many feared the worst-case scenario of a terrorism attack, Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed it wasn’t an act of terrorism at a press conference shortly after the incident.
“Based on the information we have at this moment, there is no indication that this was an act of terrorism,” de Blasio said at a May 18 press conference at W. 42nd St. and Broadway.
Ehab, a food vendor at the corner of W. 44th St. and Broadway who withheld his last name, said he saw the Honda speeding on Broadway and ramming into several people. Panicked passersby began running away from the center of Times Square, Ehab said, and he was eventually forced to move his food cart down the block by police.
Police squads began closing off streets following the incident, eventually blocking off access between W. 42nd and 52nd Sts. and Sixth and Eighth Aves. The street closures left many tourists stranded, unable to reach their hotels near the crash site.
Deb Hagen and Sara Gierdal, two Minnesota tourists, were stuck at a midblock blockade on W. 47th St. between Sixth and Seventh Aves., trying to get to their room in the DoubleTree hotel down the block.
Hagen said police were very firm about nobody getting through, agreeing only to escort a man who required medication from his hotel room to his destination. The Minnesota tourists said police officers continued flowing in past the barricades while many tourists wheeling their luggage were turned away.
Frank Heller, a New Jersey resident, was on his way home but couldn’t bypass the street closures to get to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. He said the officers couldn’t give an exact answer when asked how he could proceed, and he was left to find open cross streets on his own. When he had arrived in the city earlier, Heller said, the New Jersey resident said he saw the commotion and chose to avoid the more hectic than usual crowds at Times Square.
“Well, it’s part of living in the New York metropolitan area,” Heller said of the incident. “This is the society we live in, it’s just a microcosm of that.”
To pay their respects, New Yorkers joined together in creating a makeshift memorial out of a NYPD concrete barrier, scrawling messages of RIP and hearts. Besides a photo of Elsman, bold letters stated “New York Will Never Forget You Alyssa Elsman.”
And on top of the memorial, a framed letter from Elsman’s father, Thomas, expressed a mixture of grief and gratitude following her daughter’s death.
“There is no words that can express our gratitude with the outpouring of love and support this city has shown us,” Elsman wrote, adding that there were also 20 other families who were grieving. But for the Elsmans, a void is left after the tragic May 18 incident.
“I don’t know anything currently..I always have the answers..but I am blank…I have a hole in my heart that can never be filled,” Elsman wrote. “My world changed when you came into it and it is unexplainable with you leaving it. I love you kid.”
