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N.Y. judge adjourns Times Square crash case until July
Thomson Reuters
By Gina Cherelus
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The man charged with killing a young woman and injuring 22 others when he sped through three blocks of crowded Times Square sidewalks in his car will make his next court appearance in July.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Judy Kim on Wednesday granted an adjournment requested by Richard Rojas' attorney, Enrico Demarco. The next hearing is set for July 13.
Demarco did not give a reason, and he declined to comment after the brief hearing.
On May 18, Rojas, 26, drove his Honda sedan down Seventh Avenue, then careened onto the crowded sidewalk, mowing down pedestrians for three city blocks before crashing. Alyssa Elsman, an 18-year-old woman from Michigan, was killed.
He was subdued by onlookers and police as he tried to flee on foot.
Rojas, who did not appear at the Wednesday hearing, has been charged with second-degree murder, vehicular homicide and multiple counts of attempted murder.
Rojas, who served in the U.S. Navy, told the New York Post in a tearful jail house interview last week that he had unsuccessfully sought psychiatric care and said he had no recollection of the incident.
Rojas was believed to be under the influence of some intoxicating substance, a police source has told Reuters, while law enforcement officials told ABC News he was apparently high on synthetic marijuana.
Rojas has had numerous run-ins with the law over the past decade, according to Navy and public court records. He has had at least four prior arrests, two for drunken driving, and one just last week for allegedly threatening another man with a knife outside his apartment in New York City's Bronx borough.
While serving in the Navy in 2013, he spent two months in a military brig in South Carolina, though records do not indicate why.
As of Monday, Bellevue Hospital, which received 13 of the victims, had released seven of the patients. Of the remaining six, one was in critical condition, another was in serious condition and four were in either fair or good, the hospital said in a statement. Bellevue officials could not be reached on Wednesday for an update.
The last of six victims sent to Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai St. Luke's hospitals was released on Tuesday, a spokeswoman said.
(Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Additional reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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