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Mohamed Alaouie, 44, was driving a Mercedes sedan that twice mounted the sidewalk on West 34th Street going the wrong way, hitting people, vehicles and a food cart overnight Monday before finally coming to rest, city police said.
Alaouie was fleeing uniformed officers 90 minutes or so after the New Year’s ball drop in nearby Times Square when the chain-reaction crashes occurred near Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, the NYPD said.
He had a considerable amount of crack in the car, multiple news outlets reported, citing law enforcement sources.
Alaouie has had several recent addresses on both sides of the Hudson River, as well as no fewer than 10 prior arrests on drug-related charges -- most of them felonies -- in New York, records show.
TMZ released graphic new video on Wednesday, Jan. 3, showing how horrific the crash was:
Among the victims was Carrie Bernans, an actress and stunt woman who’s been featured in “Black Panther” and “The Color Purple” and recently gave birth to a boy.
“It ended up knocking me unconscious and [pinned] me under a bus,” Bernans posted from her hospital bed at Bellevue Hospital. “I was unaware of what was happening.”
SEE: 'Black Panther' Stuntwoman From Virginia Hurt By Fleeing Driver In NYC (Daily Voice)
Bernans, who’s in a neck brace and hooked up to tubes, suffered broken bones, chipped teeth and several cuts and bruises.
She noted that her newborn son, Jax, was “safe in a warm hotel room with family."
Uniformed officers had been flagged down by civilians who pointed them toward a man and woman fighting inside a Mercedes near the corner of 33rd Street and Sixth Avenue around 1:30 a.m. Jan. 1, the NYPD said.
“Officers on foot attempted to de-escalate the situation and ordered the male operator of the vehicle to put the vehicle into park,” the department reported. “The male failed to obey the officers' orders and fled westbound on 33rd Street before making a right turn onto 7th Avenue counter flow to traffic.”
“The Mercedes then turned onto westbound West 34th Street where he mounted the sidewalk and began traveling westbound. The male then struck a food cart and two 39-year-old female pedestrians, a 31-year-old female pedestrian, and a 29-year-old female pedestrian.”
The sedan then “mounted the curb onto the sidewalk again” and hit two police officers and an unoccupied and parked pick-up truck and Toyota Camry that was pushed into a Ford van near Ninth Avenue, the NYPD said.
The Mercedes also damaged an outdoor dining shed at Chirp, a Peruvian restaurant before a crash with another sedan at an outdoor parking garage stopped it.
Police then seized Alaouie.
He was later charged with attempted murder, reckless endangerment, criminal drug possession and DWI, among other offenses.
Those injured, including the police officers, Alaouie and the woman in the Mercedes, were brought to area hospitals.
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