A driver was taken into custody Thursday night after a violent crash in Harlem left one cyclist dead and four people injured, according to police and witness accounts.
Surveillance footage captured the incident around 8:05 p.m. near West 125th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard.
Authorities said a 49-year-old driver of a red Hyundai Tucson lost control of the vehicle and struck multiple victims, including two cyclists, before continuing down the street.
Video of the crash shows sparks flying as the vehicle appeared to drag two cyclists and possibly a bicycle underneath the car.
Witnesses and footage indicate the driver continued accelerating during the incident.
Pedestrians in the area were seen running out of the way as the vehicle moved through the busy street.
Witnesses said the driver did not attempt to stop after the initial impact.
One witness, who identified themselves as C.B., described what they saw in the aftermath of the crash.
“I seen two men laying there, they can’t move, face down, those were the two people who got hit on their bikes and dragged by the car,” C.B. said.
C.B. also described the sequence of events leading up to the vehicle coming to a stop.
“He hit the cars and he ran over people. One guy went up in the air, but the other two were dragged, until the car hit a police car,” C.B. said.
“Then his car swerved over to this side, where a truck was, and that’s what stopped him.”
The witness said they had been visiting from out of state.
“We came in from Minnesota for a funeral,” C.B. added.
“And last night we almost got taken out.”
According to witnesses and video reviewed by authorities, the two cyclists — ages 33 and 28 — were left lying in a bus lane following the crash.
Another witness who works nearby described the condition of the victims.
“We saw the bike over there. The black [cyclist] was moving a little bit, his head was bleeding like crazy, but the Spanish guy looked like he was sleeping,” the witness said.
The same witness commented on the driver’s behavior, stating, “[The driver] looked like he was drunk or something.”
The witness added, “You cannot speed like that.”
Police said the driver struck a parked NYPD cruiser and then collided with a tractor-trailer truck before the vehicle came to a stop.
Emergency responders transported the injured cyclists to nearby hospitals in critical condition.
Authorities later confirmed that the 28-year-old cyclist died from his injuries.
The driver was arrested at the scene and was not injured, according to police.
The investigation into the crash remains ongoing.