The incident occurred in the Appalachian town of Damascus at the start of the annual Trail Days festival, as the main street was filled with hikers making their way from one end of town to a park at the other, volunteer fire department chief Ben Sanders told Reuters.

Sanders said investigators were uncertain what caused the collision between the automobile and the parade, but it appeared that the elderly man who was driving “passed out or had some medical issue, and he ran through the crowd with his car.”

None of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening, Sanders added.

He said the motorist told authorities afterward he did not remember what had happened.

Steve Webb, who helps run a backpacking and outfitters store in town, said a number of hikers he spoke with afterward told him they saw bystanders lifting the runaway car off a person who had been dragged under the vehicle.

Webb said amateur video footage he saw of the accident showed “the car coming up behind the hikers and running through them,” adding that the automobile in question appeared to have pulled around an ambulance before plowing into the crowd.

Sanders said three to four people who were the most seriously hurt were flown to hospitals by helicopter, and about six to eight others were transported by ambulance. Eight to 10 people with fairly minor injuries were treated at the scene, he said.

A spokesman for Johnston Memorial Hospital in nearby Abington confirmed his hospital had treated seven people brought by ambulance with injuries they received in Damascus.

The annual Trail Days festival draws thousands of tourists to Damascus for an event celebrating the town’s proximity to four scenic trails that converge there – the Appalachian Trail, U.S. Bicycle Route 76, the Iron Mountain Trail and the Virginia Creeper Trail.

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Nine pedestrians were injured on Saturday evening when a car jumped the curb and smashed into some scaffolding at the corner of Church and Utica in Brooklyn, according to FDNY and NYPD reports.

Around 6:45 p.m., officers arrived on the scene to find 11 victims injured, including the driver and passenger of the vehicle.

Cops say a 48-year-old woman driving a 2004 Lincoln northbound on Utica was nearing the traffic light at Church Avenue when she accidentally accelerated instead of braking.

She shot through the intersection, and tried to steer through traffic but lost control of the car and jumped the curb, slamming into the nine pedestrians.

The car only stopped after smashing into some scaffolding and a bus shelter, according to NYPD reports.

Police say four critically injured victims, including a three-year-old boy, were taken to Kings County Hospital with head trauma.

Three other victims had neck and back injuries, but were listed in stable condition, and two additional had minor injuries.

The driver and passenger both suffered neck and back injuries.

All the victims are now listed in stable condition, cops said.

No arrests have been made and no charges are filed, but an investigation is on-going.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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A suspect in a hit-and-run that left two people and their unborn baby dead has surrendered to police, according to a report.

Julio Acevedo was arrested by cops in Pennsylvania this afternoon, according to the Daily News.

He surrendered to police officers in the parking lot of a store, the newspaper reported.

He was reportedly taken into an SUV with New York plates.

Metro’s original story is below:

Julio Acevedo, the suspect in the Williamsburg hit-and-run this past weekend that resulted in the death of a pregnant woman, her husband, and their baby boy, told the NY Daily News he is ready to turn himself in, the News reports.

Police have said Acevedo is the driver of the vehicle that hit the taxi Nachman and Raizy Glauber were in. Witnesses saw the driver jump out of his car and run away.

Police Commissioner Paul Browne said that Acevedo was driving “at least 60 miles an hour when [he] hit the other vehicle.”

The phone call with the Daily News was reportedly set up by a man Acevedo was once in jail with. Acevedo was imprisoned in 1987 on a manslaughter conviction.

Acevedo reportedly told the News his “heart goes out to” the couple, and said he was unaware they had died until he saw it on the news.

Acevedo also claimed he fled the scene because he was being shot at. A law enforcement source said that there were no reports of “shots fired” in that area that night.

Acevedo received a DWI last month, so was legally prohibited from driving at all, the law enforcement source noted.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post Julio Acevedo, suspect in crash that killed couple and baby, surrenders appeared first on Metro.us.

Cops have released a photo of a man they say was the driver in the Saturday night hit-and-run that killed an expecting Williamsburg couple.

Police say Julio Acevedo, 44, was the man behind the wheel of the BMW that killed 21-year-old Nachman and Raizy Glauber.

Raizy Glauber was six months pregnant. The couple was reportedly on their way to the hospital for a checkup with an OB/GYN.

Doctors at Bellevue Hospital were able to deliver the couple’s baby boy post-mortem via C-section, but the child died early Monday morning.

Local Williamsburg City Council members are offering a $5,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the driver or passenger of the vehicle that killed the Glaubers. The suspects fled the scene on foot after the accident, but cops were able to find the vehicle’s owner using the New York state license plate on the car left behind.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post Police ID suspect in accident that killed expecting Williamsburg couple appeared first on Metro.us.

UPDATE: A suspect in a hit-and-run that left two people and their unborn baby dead has surrendered to police, according to a report.

Julio Acevedo was arrested by cops in Pennsylvania this afternoon, according to the Daily News.

He surrendered to police officers in the parking lot of a store, the newspaper reported.

He was reportedly taken into an SUV with New York plates.

Metro’s original story is below.

A little after midnight on Sunday, a car accident near the Brooklyn Navy Yard resulted in the death of two passengers, a married couple, according to police reports.

The woman was 24 weeks pregnant, police said. The baby was delivered premature at the hospital and survived.

Police believe that the couple was on their way to Long Island College Hospital for an OB/GYN check-up.

The accident occurred when a grey 2010 BMW sedan hit the driver’s side of a black livery cab. According to a law enforcement source, witnesses said the BMW was speeding.

The pregnant woman in the backseat of the cab was thrown from the vehicle on impact, police said.

Police sources noted that there is a stop sign on Wilson Street at Kent Avenue, but none on Kent Avenue. The cab was traveling westbound on Wilson Street, and the BMW was traveling northbound on Kent Avenue.

The occupants of the BMW reportedly jumped out of their car and ran away. Police said witnesses reported that the driver was male and the passenger was female.

The driver of the livery cab was taken to Bellevue Hospital and is in stable condition.

The couple in the backseat were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. The man was taken to Beth Israel and the pregnant woman was taken to Bellevue.

Doctors at Bellevue were able to safely deliver the baby by Caesarean section post-mortem.

The baby’s parents, Nathan Gluber and Raizi Gluber, were 21 years old.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post (UPDATED) Suspect surrenders after car accident kills pregnant woman, baby appeared first on Metro.us.

Jason Morales, 23, was hit by a car and killed on the FDR Drive at 1:07 a.m. last night.

Morales was found with severe injuries to his body in the center lane on the northbound side of the FDR Drive at East 53rd Street. The driver who hit him remained on the scene. He blew a .000 on a Breathalyzer test.

Morales was pronounced dead later at Metropolitan Hospital.

Morales lived in Syracuse but was staying with his mother in Brooklyn. A law enforcement official said Morales’ mother told detectives that when she picked him up in Manhattan early that night, he was drunk and upset about a fight with his girlfriend.

Morales reportedly got out of his mother’s car on the FDR Drive somewhere between 40th and 60th Street. Police say his mother could not find him and returned home to Brooklyn.

Police received several 911 calls reporting a man walking on the FDR Drive. It is illegal to walk on the FDR Drive; unlike the West Side Highway, there are no footpaths or crosswalks on the FDR Drive.

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