NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana - A police spokesman says the man arrested in a crash on a busy New Orleans thoroughfare that killed two people is believed to have been impaired at the time.

In a news release, Andy Cunningham identified the suspect as 32-year-old Tashonty Toney and said he was the son of a New Orleans police officer.

Cunningham says that discovery will not change the department's investigation, which he said will be "open and transparent."

According to the news release, Saturday was Toney's birthday. Police are awaiting the results of a blood alcohol test.

Police initially said six people were also injured in the crash.

But in the news release, Cunningham said another victim who did not seek assistance at the scene was later taken to the hospital in a private vehicle.

Toney faces two counts of vehicular homicide, seven counts of vehicular negligent injury, hit and run, and reckless operation.

EMS spokesman Jonathan Fourcade says a man and a woman — both about 30 years old — were killed. The injured ranged in ages from 28 to 65.

The incident happened not far from the Endymion parade, one of the city's biggest Mardi Gras parades. </s> New Orleans police were awaiting the results of a blood alcohol test Sunday on a driver whose car rammed into bicyclists and pedestrians – killing two and injuring seven – just blocks from one of the city's most extravagant and beloved Mardi Gras parades.

The suspect was identified as Tashonty Toney, 32, and was believed to have been impaired at the time of the incident Saturday night, police spokesman Andy Cunningham said in a statement. Toney, who was arrested at the scene, is the son of a New Orleans police officer and his birthday was Saturday, he said.

Toney faces two counts of vehicular homicide, seven counts of vehicular negligent injury, hit and run and reckless operation, the department tweeted.

EMS spokesman Jonathan Fourcade said a man and a woman, both about 30, were killed. Three of the injured were in critical condition, EMS Director Emily Nichols told WVUE-TV.

Witnesses described a speeding dark sports car that was attempting to pass another vehicle when it swerved into a bike lane and spun out on the median.

Cyclist Frank Rourk told The New Orleans Advocate he saw the suspect jump out of his car without a shirt after the crash, run to the corner and lie down on the sidewalk.

Rourk said he and two other people were able to rouse the driver, who apparently had lost consciousness. Rourk, who said he initially didn’t realize anyone was struck, told the driver: “I’m pretty sure you’re the guy who wrecked the car. You better go back there.” The driver then asked whether he had killed anyone, he said.

Another witness, Dane Barrymore, told the Advocate he was smoking a cigarette outside a market when the car flew by and careened into the bike lane, striking two women and one man. “It just happened there were people there – bicyclists,” he said.

“We were able to apprehend the subject so quickly because citizens stopped this individual because they thought they were helping someone who had just been involved in a one-car accident,” Ferguson said.

The incident along historic Esplanade Avenue – a quaint stretch still dotted with 19th-century mansions that runs through the heart of the city – took place after the superkrewe Endymion's parade rolled through nearby streets. With 3,000 riders and 37 floats, Endymion is the city's biggest parade leading up to Mardi Gras on Tuesday.

The crash also comes two years after a driver slammed a pickup into a crowd watching the Endymion parade, injuring 32 people.

More: Police: Mardi Gras crash suspect had blood alcohol level 3 times the limit </s> The driver accused of hitting and killing two people and injuring several others on Esplanade Avenue near the Krewe of Endymion parade route Saturday night (March 2) was identified early Sunday morning as 32-year-old Tashonty Toney.

Toney will face charges of two counts of vehicular homicide, seven counts of vehicular negligent injury, hit and run, and reckless operation, police said.

Toney is the son of a New Orleans Police Department officer, according to department spokesman Andy Cunningham.

“During the course of the investigation it has been learned the subject is the son of an NOPD Officer,” Cunningham said in a statement. “This discovery does not change and will not impact our department’s investigation which will be open and transparent.”

NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson has been in touch with the department’s consent decree monitor about the case, Cunningham said.

Police initially said two people were killed and six were injured as Toney crashed into them between the 3200 and 3400 blocks of Esplanade Avenue, but early Sunday morning added an additional person to the tally of the injured. The ninth person at first did not seek help on scene but was later encouraged by officials to seek medical care, and was taken to the hospital in a private car, Cunningham said.

Toney is believed to have been “impaired” when he hit the people, most of whom were on bicycles, Cunningham said. NOPD is awaiting blood alcohol test results.

Police had said that the driver would be taken to the hospital after undergoing a standard protocol of testing for impairment. Toney was booked into the Orleans Justice Center jail at 5:18 a.m., according to jail records online.

Toney does not appear to have a prior criminal record in Orleans Parish, according to court records.

Check back with NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune for more details. </s> NEW ORLEANS — Police suspect a driver was impaired when he killed two people and injured seven others, most of them riding bikes, on a busy New Orleans thoroughfare as large crowds gathered in the city for Mardi Gras.

Police spokesman Andy Cunningham said in statement Sunday morning that authorities are waiting for the results of a blood alcohol test, but they believe the suspect was impaired at the time of the crash Saturday evening.

He identified the suspect who was arrested at the scene as 32-year-old Tashonty Toney and said he was the son of a New Orleans police officer.

Cunningham says that discovery will not change the department’s investigation which he said will be “open and transparent.”

Saturday was Toney’s birthday, the news release said.

Toney faces two counts of vehicular homicide, seven counts of vehicular negligent injury, hit and run, and reckless operation, the release said.

The crash happened along a multiple-block stretch of Esplanade Avenue, a leafy street that connects the city’s biggest park with the French Quarter. The scene was close to the route of the Endymion parade, one of New Orleans’ largest Mardi Gras parades, that was held Saturday.

New Orleans Police Chief Shaun Ferguson told a news conference late Saturday that despite the crash’s proximity to the parade route, “we do not believe at this point in time that this has anything to do with the Endymion parade.”

Police said most of the victims were bicyclists, and photographs of the scene showed mangled bikes along the side of the street.

Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson told local media that bystanders in the area were the ones who stopped the driver.

“We were able to apprehend the subject so quickly because citizens stopped this individual, because they thought they were helping someone who had just been involved in a one-car accident,” Ferguson said.

One witness, cyclist Frank Rourk, told The New Orleans Advocate that he saw a driver of a dark sports car spin out on the median. The driver ran to a nearby corner and laid down on the sidewalk where he lost consciousness.

Rourk and two other people were able to wake the driver, and Rourk, who initially didn’t realize anyone was hit, told the driver: “I’m pretty sure you’re the guy who wrecked the car. You better go back there.” The driver then asked whether he had killed anyone.

EMS spokesman Jonathan Fourcade said a man and a woman — both about 30 years old — were killed.

EMS Director Emily Nichols told WVUE-TV that three of the five people brought to the hospital were in critical condition.

One onlooker, Dane Barrymore, told The New Orleans Advocate that he was smoking a cigarette outside a market when he saw a dark sports car speeding down the street. The driver swerved into the bike lane to try to go around a vehicle.

“It just happened there were people there – bicyclists,” Barrymore said. Barrymore said he saw two women and one man get struck. He said he went to help but it quickly became apparent that one of the women and the man didn’t survive. </s> A police officer's son was held Sunday on more than a half-million dollars' bond after two people were killed and seven others were injured, three of them critically, when a vehicle struck them on a busy New Orleans street, authorities said.

The man, Tashonty C. Toney, who turned 32 on Saturday, was likely impaired, New Orleans police spokesman Andy Cunningham said Sunday morning. NBC affiliate WDSU reported that court records quoted Toney as having told officers: "I have a drinking problem. I should have gotten help."

Toney was held on $510,000 bond pending a hearing on Thursday on two counts of vehicular homicide and seven counts of vehicular negligent injury, hit and run, and reckless operation.

Lt. Jonathan Fourcade, a spokesman for New Orleans Emergency Medical Services, said a man and a woman, both about 30 years old, were killed. The injured were ages 28 to 65, he said.

Witnesses told WDSU that the car sideswiped several vehicles before it came to a stop outside a restaurant, where the driver tried to flee before bystanders jumped in. A witness told The New Orleans Advocate that the driver asked whether he had killed anybody and then remarked: "Call my daddy — call my daddy. He's NOPD."

Police confirmed that Toney's father is a New Orleans officer.

Police Supt. Shaun Ferguson said bystanders stopped the driver along a stretch of Esplanade Avenue near where the Krewe of Endymion was holding its annual Mardi Gras parade, one of the city's largest, at about 8 p.m. Saturday.

"EMS, fire department was immediately on scene to render assistance to these victims — and not just with us and our public safety departments, but also with our citizens, who were providing CPR to some of the victims while our medical staff was en route to this scene," Ferguson said. </s> New Orleans: Two killed and six injured after car hits group on busy street

New Orleans: Two killed and six injured after car hits group on busy street

Two people died after they were hit by a car in New Orleans. Pic: ABC

Two people have been killed and six injured after they were hit by a vehicle in New Orleans.

The victims were a man and a woman both aged about 30, while the injured range in age from 28 to 65, according to emergency services.

Five of those injured - a man, 56, two 28-year-old women, a man, 62, and a woman, 53 - were taken to hospital.

Three of them were critically wounded, local media reported.

The sixth person injured was a man, 65, who refused hospital treatment after the Saturday evening incident.

New Orleans Police Department said on Twitter that they had arrested Tashonty Toney, 32, in connection with the incident.

He is suspected of two counts of vehicular homicide and seven of vehicular negligent injury, hit and run, and reckless operation of a motor vehicle.

Fox reported that the night of the crash was Toney's 32nd birthday and officers said on Twitter: "It is believed Toney was impaired at the time of the incident."

A witness, Dane Barrymore, told The New Orleans Advocate that he had seen a dark sports car speeding down the street.

The driver had swerved into a cycle lane to avoid another vehicle, he said, adding: "It just happened there were people there - cyclists."

He saw the car hit two women and a man and, although he went to help, it was clear that the man and one of the women had not survived.

Mr Barrymore said the car continued down the street, hitting another vehicle and spinning out of control.

Another witness, Robert Miller, told The Times-Picayune that the vehicle had been "flying" as it "blew by us".

The incident happened just a few blocks from the Endymion parade, one of the city's biggest Mardi Gras parades. </s> NEW ORLEANS — A car plowed into bicyclists and pedestrians on a street in New Orleans, killing two people and injuring six others as the city celebrates Mardi Gras festivities.

A majority of the people struck Saturday night were on bicycles, but it’s unclear how many, Police Chief Shaun Ferguson said. Of the people injured, three are in critical condition.

The driver, Tashonty Toney, 32, was arrested and faces several charges, including two counts of vehicular homicide, hit and run, and reckless operation, the New Orleans Police Department tweeted.

Toney was not injured and fled the scene, Ferguson said

“We were able to apprehend the subject so quickly because citizens stopped this individual because they thought they were helping someone who had just been involved in a one-car accident,” Ferguson said.

Officers determined that the accident scene spanned several blocks of Esplanade Avenue. Earlier, police had said they are investigating whether the driver was intoxicated, and standard protocol involves breathalyzer and blood tests.

Police did not provide details on the people killed or injured. The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office will release the victims’ identities after autopsies are completed and family members notified.

While no motive is currently known, the incident does not appear connected to the Endymion parade, a Mardi Gras-related activity that was happening nearby, Ferguson said.

The crash comes about two years after a drunken driver rammed into a crowd taking part in the Endymion parade, injuring at least 28 people. The driver in that 2017 crash, Neilson Rizzuto, was charged with vehicular negligence resulting in injury, reckless operation and hit-and-run driving.

The Endymion parade is one of the most popular events leading up to Mardi Gras, which is Tuesday. Mardi Gras is a day of revelry that includes parades, parties and food before the Christian fasting season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. It marks the last day of the Carnival season. </s> New Orleans: At least 28 injured after vehicle ploughs into mardi gras crowd

Updated

A 25-year-old man accused of ploughing a pickup truck into a crowd of spectators at a mardi gras parade in New Orleans has been arrested and charged with injuring 28 people, authorities said.

New Orleans police booked Neilson Rizzuto after taking him into custody in "a highly intoxicated state" immediately after the accident on Saturday evening (local time).

Rizzuto was charged with two counts of vehicular negligence injuring in the first degree, hit and run driving and the reckless operation of a motor vehicle, according to a statement.

No further information about Rizzuto was immediately available.

The utility vehicle, travelling along the side of the street open to traffic along the Mid-City Krewe of Endymion parade route, struck three other vehicles, including a garbage truck, before veering onto the median strip where a crowd of people stood watching the procession, according to New Orleans police.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu in a statement referred to the suspect as a "drunk driver".

Twenty-one people were hospitalised after the crash, with five victims in serious condition.

Seven others declined to be hospitalised, city emergency services director Jeff Selder said.

The victims ranged in age from as young as three or four years old to adults in their 30s and 40s, Dr Selder said.

Among the injured was one New Orleans police officer.

Police Chief Michael Harrison said the officer, who was on duty, was undergoing tests to determine the extent of her injuries.

She was in "good spirits", he said.

Video footage shows pandemonium

Video footage from the scene showed pandemonium immediately following the early evening incident, but the parade, the largest and most popular of numerous mardi gras season parades in New Orleans, continued with little or no interruption.

The incident came during one of the busiest nights of mardi gras, when thousands of people throng the streets of Mid-City to watch the elaborate floats and clamour to catch beads and trinkets tossed from riders.

As police and city officials were assessing the scene, people were streaming home as plastic bags that used to hold trinkets and discarded beads littered the ground.

The area where the incident occurred was cordoned off with police barricades.

One woman at the scene told The New Orleans Advocate that a silver truck whisked by her, just feet away, as she was walking through the intersection.

Carrie Kinsella said she "felt a rush it was so fast".

Twenty-year-old Kourtney McKinnis told the Advocate that the driver of the truck seemed almost unaware of what he had just done.

"He was just kind of out of it," she said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in New Orleans said its agents were "coordinating with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners to determine whether a federal violation has occurred".

The Endymion parade incident was not the only one to mar mardi gras festivities in New Orleans.

Earlier in the day, someone's gun went off accidentally in a portable toilet along the route of another, smaller parade, leaving one person wounded, police said.

AP/Reuters

Topics: law-crime-and-justice, united-states

First posted </s> NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- It's too soon to discuss whether new safety rules will be established after a man accused of driving drunk plowed into a Mardi Gras parade crowd, a New Orleans police spokesman said Monday.

"It's probably a little premature," Michael "Beau" Tidwell said. "We're working now to make sure everything was handled correctly and victims were well taken care of."

He said he's also trying to track down why a police report puts the number of people hit at 32. Earlier statements had the number at 28, with 21 taken to hospitals and seven declining treatment.

The accident occurred Saturday night during one of the season's glitziest parades. The Krewe of Endymion travels a route more than 5 miles long, most of it on four-lane streets divided by a wide median.

Thousands of people throng the sidewalks and medians to watch the elaborate floats and clamor to catch beads and trinkets tossed by riders. Those in the median are facing away from the side of the street that remains open for traffic. A pickup truck hit two other vehicles on that side of the street, then wound up in the median, police said.

Those injured include police Lt. Michelle Woodfork, niece of former Police Superintendent Warren Woodfork, Tidwell said. The current superintendent, Michael Harrison, said earlier that she was on parade duty.

Driver Neilson Rizzuto, 25, is jailed, his bond set at $125,000 on charges of first-degree negligent vehicular injuring, hit-and-run driving causing serious injury and reckless driving. Police have said a breath test showed a blood alcohol level nearly triple the level considered legal proof of intoxication.

At least three victims remained hospitalized overnight with moderate to serious injuries, police said Sunday. There were no fatalities.

Ages of the victims ranged from 1 to patients in their 50s, police said.

Tidwell said health privacy rules meant that he could not give more detailed information about the victims or update their conditions.

Asked by reporters Saturday night whether police suspected terrorism, Superintendent Harrison said, "We suspect that that subject was highly intoxicated."

Rizzuto is being held on $125,000 bond in a New Orleans jail, online records show.

Commissioner Robert Blackburn said if Rizzuto makes bond he would be placed under house arrest, required to wear an ankle monitor and forbidden from driving, The Advocate reported (http://bit.ly/2mtjUnG).

The commissioner told Rizzuto, who was handcuffed and wearing an orange jumper, that he was setting the bail for an amount he "envisioned" for about 21 counts - referring to the number of people who went to the hospital.

Rizzuto's father told WWL-TV (http://bit.ly/2lZWmcs) that he was still trying to understand what happened and that his son is a "good kid." John Rizzuto told the station he spoke with his son multiple times Sunday morning and that his son said "a stranger gave him a drink off the street and that's the last thing he remembered."

Saturday night's parade was put on by the Krewe of Endymion, which is known for its long, elaborate floats and the big party it hosts at the Superdome after the parade.

---

Associated Press writer Kevin McGill contributed to this report. </s> Two people died and 23 others were critically injured after a car ran through a crowd of people in Austin, TX, early Thursday morning, according to the Austin Police Department.

The incident occurred shortly after 12:40 AM CT near the downtown intersection of Red River Street and East 10th Street, just mere blocks away from the popular Mohawk music venue. The area in question had been blocked off to all vehicular traffic due to the current SXSW Music Festival, which began on Tuesday and ends on Saturday and draws thousands from around the world. Many of those hurt were presumably attendees of the event.

Police say the driver attempted to evade a DWI checkpoint when he turned the wrong way on Red River. The car, a grey Toyota, struck more than 20 pedestrians before turning onto East 11th and crashing into a moped and a van. One of the individuals riding the moped and a bicyclist were pronounced dead at the scene.

The suspect then jumped out of the car and attempted to flee on foot, but detained by police officers after being tased. He’s currently in custody and will be charged with two counts of capital murder and 23 counts of aggravated assault.

Update – 11:00am: In a press conference held Thursday morning, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said that of the 23 injured, two are in critical and three are in serious condition. 15 people have released from the hospital. SXSW is working to make changes to the venues and programming in the area surrounding last night’s events. However, all other programming will continue as previously scheduled. To cancel the events, according to Acevedo, would be “a victory for evil.”

Update – 7:00pm: The Austin Police Department has released the names of the suspect and victims. 21-year-old Rashad Charjuan Owens has been identified as the driver of the vehicle. According to the Austin American-Stateman, Owens had been arrested several times on misdemeanor charges in Fairbanks, Alaska, where he also currently has an active warrant out for him.

The bicyclist who was killed has been named as 35-year-old Steven Craenmehr. SPIN reports that he worked as creative director at MassiveMusic. The other death was 27-year-old Jamie Ranae West, an Austin resident who was riding on the back of a moped driven by Evan West, her husband. Evan is currently still in the hospital.

The names and ages of all those injured in the tragedy can be found on the Citizen Observer.

Organizers of SXSW have established SXSW Cares, a fund to assist the victims. To make a donation, head here.

After discussing with APD and city officials, the organizers decided that Mohawk and Cheer Up Charlie’s, two venues located at the scene of the crash, will reopen tonight at 7:00pm. SXSW founder Roland Swenson said in a statement, “After talking with the Austin Police Department, we have determined that the most prudent course of action is to move forward with the SXSW shows scheduled at the Mohawk and Cheer Up Charlie’s tonight. If we were to turn away potentially thousands of people who will arrive to see the shows, it would create a serious safety issue.”

James Moody, owner of Mohawk, also released a statement: “My staff and myself are broken hearted for not only the victims and families of this senseless tragedy but also for our beloved Red River and this entire community.”

If you have any further information, please call the Austin Police department at (512) 974-5186.
Tashonty Toney, son of a police officer, was arrested for vehicular homicide, vehicular negligent injury, hit-and-run and reckless operation of a motor vehicle after he veered into a bike line near a Mardi Gras parade route in New Orleans. He accidentally killed 2 and injured 7 cyclists while drunk and drugged.