Police say an enraged driver plowed his car into a family of eight, including a baby and five children, outside a store in Rockland County, New York, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring several others.
Police said the initial argument may have stemmed from the family's father asking the driver to not blow cigarette smoke near his children outside a 7-Eleven store in the Town of Haverstraw, a northwest suburb of New York City, CBS New York reported.
Police said the driver, identified as 35-year-old Jason Mendez of Washingtonville, hit all eight members of the family and smashed into the storefront before he reversed the vehicle and drove forward again, striking the family a second time.
All of the family members were hospitalized. The woman was later pronounced dead. Police did not release the names of the woman and her family members, saying only that a 35-year-old man and six children, including a 2-year-old child, were being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
The knife-wielding Mendez was arrested at the scene after police used a stun gun to subdue him.
“He didn’t say anything initially to the police officers,” said Haverstraw Police Capt. Martin Lund. “He refused to drop the knife. Then he was tazed at the scene and taken down.”
Mendez pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on murder and attempted murder charges Wednesday night. It wasn’t clear if he had a lawyer who could comment on the charges.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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