Driver accused in Times Square rampage indicted
NEW YORK -- A man accused of intentionally mowing down pedestrians on a Times Square sidewalk, killing one and injuring 22 others, was indicted Wednesday by a grand jury.
Richard Rojas did not appear in court in Manhattan for the hearing. The charges have not yet been made public, but the 26-year-old Rojas was previously arrested on charges of murder and attempted murder.
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An arraignment was set for July 13, and he doesn't have to enter a plea until then. His lawyer had no comment.
Police said Rojas sped his car down Seventh Avenue around noon on May 18 before making a sharp U-turn and jumping the curb at 42nd Street, where the first person was hit, reports CBS New York.
"Parts of his car, the side-view mirror, license plates are falling off as he's striking these pedestrians," William Aubry, NYPD's chief of Manhattan South detectives, told reporters last week. "People are being dragged. They're on top of the car."
Rojas told police after his arrest that he had been smoking marijuana laced with the hallucinogenic drug PCP, according to a criminal complaint. He said he wanted to "kill them all" and police should have shot him to stop him, prosecutors said.
The crash killed Alyssa Elsman, an 18-year-old tourist from Portage, Michigan, and injured her 13-year-old sister, Ava. A barricade at the site of the crash has become a makeshift memorial adorned with flowers, photos and handwritten messages.
Rojas has several prior criminal cases. He pleaded guilty two weeks ago to harassment in the Bronx after he was accused of pulling a knife on a notary in his home.
"You're trying to steal my identity," he said, according to prosecutors.
He also had two previous drunken driving cases.