NY Terror Suspect Was Pulled Over In HdG, Records Show

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD — The terror suspect accused of killing at least eight people in New York on Halloween was once stopped by law enforcement in Maryland. Sayfullo Saipov, 29, was pulled over in Havre de Grace, court records show.

Saipov was stopped on eastbound Route 40 at Ontario Street, near the approach to the Hatem Bridge, according to online court records. The stop occurred on April 21, 2011, and was initiated by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police.

Saipov pleaded guilty and was fined $90 for not having his record of duty in his vehicle, court records show. The logs are required for commercial vehicle drivers.

On Tuesday, he was suspected of killing multiple people in another type of vehicle after he allegedly plowed a rental truck into a crowd of cyclists in Manhattan.

At least eight people died and more were injured when the Home Depot truck sped down a bike path blocks away from the World Trade Center, crashing into cyclists, pedestrians and a school bus before law enforcement officials said the driver exited and yelled "Allahu Akbar!" — which means "God is great!" in Arabic.

Police said that a pellet gun and paintball gun were recovered at the scene. A joint terrorism task force has been set up to lead the investigation into the truck rampage, and authorities filed two federal charges against him on Wednesday, including material support for a terrorist organization and destruction of a motor vehicle with disregard for the safety of human life.

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Saipov, who legally immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan in March 2010, was never on the FBI's radar, but investigators are looking into ties with suspected terrorists, NYPD's counterterrorism commissioner John Miller said.

"He did this in the name of ISIS," Miller told reporters at police headquarters Wednesday morning. Police found handwritten notes in Arabic indicating Saipov's connection to the terrorist group, he said.

The FBI and NYPD are still gathering evidence from the scene, interviewing witnesses and Saipov's associates, and conducting searches around the country, officials said. Saipov previously lived in Ohio and Florida. His wife is cooperating with authorities and had no knowledge of the attack, NBC News reported Wednesday.

In addition to a commercial vehicle in Havre de Grace and the rented Home Depot truck in Manhattan, Saipov had previously driven an Uber, Patch reported. He has since been banned from the Uber app, according to a company spokeswoman.

— By Patch editors Noah Manskar, Tom Davis and Elizabeth Janney

Lead image: Undated photo provided by St. Charles County Department of Corrections via KMOV shows Sayfullo Saipov. (St. Charles County Department of Corrections/KMOV via AP)