Pickup injures 28 US parade-goers

NEW ORLEANS, US - A suspect is in custody after 28 people were injured on Saturday when a pickup plowed into a crowd watching the Krewe of Endymion parade in the Mid-City section of New Orleans, police said.

Police Chief Michael Harrison said the suspect is being investigated for driving while intoxicated. Harrison was asked twice by the media if terrorism was suspected. While he didn't say "No", he did say it looks like a case of drunken driving.

"We suspect that the subject was highly intoxicated," he said.

Twenty-one people were hospitalized after the crash with five victims in guarded condition. Seven others declined to be hospitalized, city Emergency Services Director Jeff Elder said.

The victims range in age from age 3 or 4 to adults in their 30s and 40s, said Elder.

Among the injured was one New Orleans police officer. Harrison said the officer, who was on duty, was undergoing tests. She was in "good spirits", he said.

The incident happened 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 clamor 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 was cordoned off with police barricades.

A male witness said that he heard screaming when the truck was steered into the crowd.

Its driver had intended to push another vehicle out of his way. He turned the truck into the crowd after failing to do so, the witness said.

A female witness said that the driver seemed unaware of what he had done.

Ap - Xinhua