NEW YORK -- Investigators of a Halloween crash that killed three people, including a 10-year-old girl, are looking at whether a medical problem may have caused a motorist to smash into a group of New York City trick-or-treaters, police said Sunday.
The car jumped a curb in the Bronx on Saturday evening, leaving behind mangled bodies and bloodied costumes as neighbors ran to help.
Police were examining whether the driver may have suffered a medical emergency, such as a seizure.
The driver, Howard Unger, 52, of the Bronx, had been driving west on Morris Park Avenue in a black Dodge Charger when his vehicle ran into the rear of a Toyota at least twice before accelerating into oncoming traffic and jumping the curb just before 5 p.m.
"He hit a car, the car pulled over and he kept going," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Detectives believe, based on interviews with off-duty emergency medical workers who were on or near the crowded residential block when the crash occurred, that Unger had a seizure, the official said.
Unger remained hospitalized Sunday at Jacobi Medical Center and was cooperating with the investigation, the official said, adding that no alcohol or drugs had been detected in his system.
A 65-year-old grandfather, Louis Perez, suffered severe head trauma and died at the scene, police said.
His granddaughter, 10-year-old Nyanna Aquil, was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The girl's 3-year-old sister was also hospitalized.
Another man, 24-year-old Kristian Leka, was also killed.
His 9-year-old sister and a 21-year-old female friend were also injured but not critically.
Nyanna's mother, Natalia Perez, told the Daily News that her father had been taking her daughters for some extra Halloween fun.
"It was all because my dad wanted to take my girls for a second round of trick-or-treating," she said. "Isn't that crazy? I had already taken the girls earlier."
Witnesses described hearing a loud boom, followed by screaming and crying, then seeing a trail of bodies in crumpled costumes.
"I saw a torso on the sidewalk. I didn't know if it was a Halloween dummy or a real person," Fabio Cotza told the New York Post.
"I just grabbed a whole bunch of towels and ran outside."
The preliminary investigation appeared to show that speed was not a factor in causing the crash, said the official, who cautioned that detectives were still gathering information and looking for video.
Hours after the crash, neighbors gathered for a small candlelight vigil to remember the victims.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said authorities "will leave no stone unturned" in the investigation and offered prayers to the victims and their families.
"We do not accept tragedies like this as inevitable," he said.
"This could be any of our families. Each of us must contribute to making this a city where everyone, especially children, can walk our streets safely."
Information for this article was contributed by J. David Goodman, Emily Palmer and Sandra E. Garcia of The New York Times.
A Section on 11/02/2015