The crash injured three others, along with the driver, police said. Witnesses described hearing a loud boom, followed by screaming and crying, then seeing a trail of mangled bodies in crumpled, bloodied costumes.
"I saw a torso on the sidewalk. I didn't know if it was a Halloween dummy or a real person," neighbor Fabio Cotza told the New York Post. "I just grabbed a whole bunch of towels and ran outside."
A 52-year-old man behind the wheel of the black Dodge Charger plowed into the pedestrians on a sidewalk and then smashed through a fence in front of a home, police said. The car was left teetering on a brick wall.
A child's shoe and remnants of a mangled stroller lay on the sidewalk just feet away.
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Moments before the car jumped the sidewalk, the driver had crossed over a double yellow line in the road after bumping into the back of a Toyota Camry, police said.
Police did not know if or how Leka was related to the others.
Authorities said a 3-year-old girl was critically injured.
A 21-year-old woman, a 9-year-old girl and the driver of the car also were taken to the hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening.
A crowd of costumed onlookers descended on the scene yesterday night as investigators worked to determine the cause of the crash. No charges had been filed.
Hours after the crash, neighbors gathered for a small candlelight vigil to remember the victims.