(CNN.com)One guy is in custody after a collision at a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans hurt at least 28 people, five critically, authorities said.
Police Chief Michael Harrison said it seemed the defendant, who had been driving a pickup that hit on two automobiles before running to the group, was probably highly intoxicated. One of the wounded, the youngest is 3 and the oldest are in their 40s.
Not one of the injuries was life threatening, authorities said.
Where the Krewe of Endymion parade was under way the event happened close to the junction of Orleans and Carrollton Avenues.
Here would be the most recent developments in this report:
A total of 21 individuals were hospitalized, including one female officer. She was in great spirits, the leader said.
Seven individuals who have been damage refused medical transfer.
A few of the by-standers who assisted care for the injured were emergency responders who have been tourists in town for Mardi Gras, the leader said.
Harrison said there’s no sign the injury was an act terrorism.
Video from CNN affiliate WDSU confirmed a grey pickup truck that had crashed right into a dump-truck on a median close to the junction.
Witnesses informed the station the pick-up hit several vehicles before hitting folks in the group observing the parade and came down among the roads.
“I saw the gray truck flying down Carrollton Avenue,” women witness informed WDSU. “He sped up and he lost control and you could see was getting ready to turn and I knew he was going to run into all those people.”
The injury occurred around 6:42 p.m. (7:42 p.m. ET).
The Endymion parade is among the largest parades leading up to Mardi Gras, which is among the most family, plus Tuesday -oriented. Parents brought their kids to the function.
The parade, held in the Mid City area much in the French Quarter, contains three dozen tractor-pulled floats, a number of these double- and triple deckers.
Mardi Gras, French for “Fat Tuesday,” is a day of revelry which includes parades, celebrations and gastronomic indulgence prior to the Christian fasting time of Lent starts on Ash Wednesday. It marks the day of the Carnival period.
Mardi Gras has additionally come to consult with the weekend of festivities and events instantly previous Lent.
The day can also be called Carnival Tuesday Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday, according to where the party is happening.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/25/us/new-orleans-mardi-gras-parade-accident/index.html