An unhinged man driving a U-Haul truck killed one person and injured at least seven others — including a police officer — in a “violent rampage” that overtook the streets and sidewalks of Brooklyn Monday, police said.
“Shoot me! I’m not stopping!’’ the crazed driver shouted at cops who tried to pull him over after he’d left a trail of victims in his wake, police sources said.
The violent saga — which left two victims critically wounded — began in Bay Ridge around 11 a.m. and ended about 30 minutes later and three miles away in Red Hook following a high-speed chase, authorities said.
Senior law enforcement sources identified the suspect as Weng Sor, a 62-year-old homeless man with no prior arrests in New York but a history of mental illness. Court records show he served prison time in Nevada for stabbing his brother in 2015 in Las Vegas.
After the maniac was taken into custody, he told the officers he “wanted to die,” sources said.
Two of the victims were listed in critical condition, two in serious condition and four suffered minor injuries, according to the FDNY. A ninth possible victim, a 51-year-old man, later walked into a hospital with a leg injury and claimed it was a result of the rampage.
Police said the mad motorist first hit at least one person riding an e-bike near Fifth Avenue and Bay Ridge Parkway in Bay Ridge around 11 a.m. before speeding off as cops gave pursuit.
He then rammed into seven other people at six separate locations heading north from Bay Ridge into Sunset Park, until he was finally stopped in Red Hook, cops said.
“The truck was flying, way too fast, and hit the guy and he went down,” said eyewitness Rua Bishara.
“Then it drove over him. It was horrible. The guy looked like he was dead. He was surrounded by people and he wasn’t moving.”
A retired Suffolk County cop who saw the mayhem called it “crazy.”
“The truck was coming down Bay Ridge Parkway and blew the light and smashed right into a scooter driver who is running in from Fifth,” the ex-cop said.
“He drove right over the guy, dragged him from the corner to the second tree … It was crazy.”
Another witness, Kida Rexhepi, whose family owns M&G Hair Salon on Third Avenue, told The Post, “It all happened so fast, it was like a tornado gone by, and when it was done, everyone came running to see what happened.”
A shocking surveillance video obtained by The Post shows the truck smash into the back of a moped — spinning the bike around and sending the driver to the ground — before jumping a curb and plowing through bikes left on the corner of 72nd Street and Third Avenue.
A pedestrian can be seen diving to avoid the U-Haul as an NYPD cruiser jumps onto the sidewalk in pursuit.
The driver sped off down Fourth Avenue — and rammed into a pedestrian, police said.
At least two other e-bike drivers were hit during the chase.
The truck then jumped on the Gowanus Expressway, where cops caught up to him at Columbia Street and Hamilton Avenue in Red Hook, the NYPD said. The driver was taken into custody on pending charges.
An NYPD spokesperson said the incident was not believed to be terror-related ad the violent mayhem appeared random, according to the sources, who said the driver could have been living out of the truck.
BROOKLYN: DEVELOPING: Multiple pedestrians were struck and a cyclist was dragged by a U-Haul truck near 5th Ave and Bay Ridge Parkway. The truck was stopped after a brief chase, NYPD Bomb squad is responding to check a device inside. pic.twitter.com/dJUlBWibm7
— KolHaolam (@KolHaolam) February 13, 2023
