Manhattan bike path dotted with memorials, signs of resilience 2 days after terror attack
Eight were killed and 12 wounded in the terror attack on Tuesday afternoon.
— -- Two days after a terror attack unfolded along a lower Manhattan bike and jogging path, small memorials have cropped up to honor the eight people killed and the 12 others who were wounded.
The rampage began shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday when Sayfullo Saipov, 29, allegedly began plowing into cyclists and pedestrians on a bike path near West Houston Street and the West Side Highway. The suspect drove south for about a mile before crashing into a school bus near Chambers Street, just across from Stuyvesant High School. Saipov was shot and injured by a police officer and taken into custody.
Today, police officers stood guard as mourners placed flowers along the path.
Video from the scene showed the memorials.
Just blocks from One World Trade Center, the area is now dotted with symbols of resilience, including a pumpkin with a New York Yankees hat that reads: "NYC strong."
Two Americans were among the eight killed in the attack: Darren Drake, 32, of New Jersey, and Nicholas Cleves, 23, of New York.
"I'm not angry at all," Darren Drake's father, Jimmy Drake, told reporters Wednesday. "I'm absolutely hurt."
Darren Drake was his only child.
Alex Silverstein, president of Unified Digital Group, where Cleves worked, described him in a statement as "a brilliant, humble, compassionate young professional."
"Nicholas was wonderful with people. He was polite, funny, and, above all, considerate in action," Silverstein said. "He was composed, accepting, and open to all. It pains me greatly to reflect that we can no longer experience his unique gifts. A growing light has been senselessly extinguished."
"I was truly blessed to call Nicholas Cleves my colleague and friend," he added.
Five Argentines visiting New York City to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation were also killed: Hernan Diego Mendoza, Diego Enrique Angelini, Alejandro Damian Pagnucco, Ariel Erlij and Hernan Ferruchi.
The eighth victim was Ann-Laure Decadt, 31, of Belgium. Decadt was a mother of two sons, ages 3 years and 3 months.
Decadt’s husband, Alexander Naessens, said her death was unbearable. She was on a trip with her mother and two sisters at the time of the attack, Naessens said in a statement today translated from his native Flemish.
According to the criminal complaint, Saipov was inspired by ISIS videos he watched on his cellphone.
Saipov was charged Wednesday with providing support to ISIS and violence and destruction of motor vehicles. A plea has not been entered.
