7 Pedestrians Hurt After Being Struck By A Vehicle In The Bronx; Hunt Continues For Driver, Passenger
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It was a frightening and violent scene outside of a Bronx high school on Tuesday.
An altercation led to a 17-year-old being slashed before a car barreled into a group on the sidewalk, CBS2's Cory James reported.
Police are still looking for the driver of the SUV that crashed into the teens, and his passenger. The incident happened in an area where there are multiple schools with young school-aged children.
One of those kids, a 7-year-old Mason Michel, described to CBS2 the scary scene feet away from him.
Mason said he did not fully understand that announcement made inside his school building, but the third grader knew it was serious after seeing what was outside his classroom.
"I went to the door and peeked and then I saw a guy with a knife and I went back to my table, under my table," Mason said.
It was a terrifying experience that police said first started in front of Harry S. Truman High School in Co-op City. Authorities told James it was at around 2:30 p.m. when an argument broke out there between three people in an SUV and a group of people on the street.
According to officials, someone from that group went to the vehicle and stabbed a 17-year-old in the torso. James has learned that victim jumped out before the driver hit the gas, slamming into several teens standing on the sidewalk.
A grandmother waiting for her grandchildren to get out of school watched it happen.
"They were fighting," she said. "He was determined to hit them and what he did was he hit my car. When I realized he wasn't going to stop, I jumped out with the dog."
Police said both the driver and a third passenger in the BMW took off running after crashing into a car on Baychester Avenue. They left behind a crime scene and parents anxiously waiting.
"We was freaking out," a woman said.
The city's Department of Education said in a statement, "Both NYPD and School Safety immediately responded to an external incident ... taking additional safety measures at the school, which entered lockdown, and working closely with NYPD."
It was a frightening situation for so many, especially the kids.
But young Mason said he was prepared to step in if things got worse.
"I would tell everyone to get out and run as fast as they can," he said.
According to the FDNY, the pedestrians who were struck were taken to Jacobi Medical Center. All are expected to be okay.
