NYPD rookie officer killed, 8 others injured in van crash

NEW YORK — A 25-year-old rookie police officer was killed early Sunday and eight other officers were injured when their van crashed into a concrete barrier in the Bronx, police said.

Officer Michael Williams was ejected from the right rear passenger seat window when the van struck the barrier, police said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. The other officers were taken to hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the injured officers, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Williams’ dream was to be a New York Police Department officer.

“I know we’re all in a lot of pain today to lose a good young man who was just starting out,” de Blasio said.

The mayor and Police Commissioner William Bratton also visited Williams’ stationhouse in the Bronx’s 47th Precinct.

“They are in deep mourning, as you can imagine, for a colleague,” de Blasio said.

De Blasio said he and Bratton attended Williams’ police academy graduation ceremony earlier this year.

Williams’ father is a veteran police officer in Carmel, New York, and Williams was an only child, de Blasio said.

“Our hearts go out especially to the Williams family, who lost their child,” he said.

The officers were headed to Manhattan on the Bruckner Expressway when the van crashed at about 5 a.m. The cause of the crash is under investigation.