A fun family gathering turned into a nightmarish terror early Sunday when a hit-and-run Jeep driver mounted a Bronx sidewalk and struck six people, critically injuring one of them, cops said.
After relatives tried to detain the driver, someone fired a gun into the air to scare them off, police said.
The chaos began when a gray four-door Jeep crashed into the gathering outside Grant Park at E. 170th St. and Sheridan Ave. about 2:45 a.m., cops said.
“It was way too quick. I couldn’t really see,” a witness who declined to give his name told CBS2. “I couldn’t really tell what happened, but all I could say is a car sped up to hit us. I don’t know why.”
The Jeep, which has temporary paper license plates, finally stopped when it slammed into a tall chain-link fence, ripping through part of it, surrounding the park.
A 16-year-old boy and his mother were pinned under their vehicle. The boy suffered broken bones while his mother was critically hurt, police said.
Another 16-year-old boy, a 40-year-old man and two adult women all suffered minor injuries. All the victims are part of the same family, authorities said.
Medics took all six victims to Lincoln Hospital.
A group of people at the gathering got their hands on the driver and tried to detain him for cops. But the driver’s passenger ran off and brought back friends to confront the group, authorities said.
One of those friends fired a gun once in the air, scaring off the crowd, which let the driver go, authorities said. The driver, passenger and pals then all ran off south on Sheridan Ave. and have not been caught.
Police were investigating the possibility the driver intentionally struck the victims.
A shaken family member who was not part of the gathering visited the scene hours later. She said the family regularly gathers in the park and moves to the sidewalk — where they were struck — when the park closes for the night.
“We come here for little gatherings,” said the relative, a 20-year-old woman who gave her name as Jas. “Family is important.”
Her mother, aunts, uncle and cousins were among those injured.
“It was just a small gathering,” she said.
“My mom was concerned that he might try and start the car again, meaning whoever was behind the car might be run over again,” said Jas. “She’s strong, she’s very brave. She yelled.”
Her cousin was one of the more seriously hurt family members.
“One of his legs got injured,” she said. “He’s going to need a lot of therapy.”
“My aunt was conscious all of this time,” said Jas, saying she had been hit in the torso and had internal bleeding.
Another aunt has a cut on her head and little memory of what happened.
Jas’s 5-year-old brother, who is autistic, had grown tired of the gathering and left earlier with an uncle. “My baby brother said ‘Mommy, I want to go home,’ ” she said. “I thank God for that.”
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