TIMES SQUARE — A Times Square street vendor who alerted police to a car bomb filled with explosives at the Crossroads of the World in 2010 is running for Congress.
Duane Jackson, a Navy veteran and former city planner, will run as a Democrat in New York's upstate 19th congressional district, where he lives, in hopes of defeating incumbent Rep. Nan Hayworth, a Republican, according to lohud.com.
Jackson, who has been a licensed street vendor for more than two decades, was one of several vendors who alerted police after spotting an smoking, abandoned Nissan Pathfinder filled with explosives parked in Times Square on May 1, 2010.
Jackson said the incident he helped spur his congressional run in the district, which covers parts of Orange, Rockland, Dutchess and Westchester counties.
“Kind of going back to that whole May 1st [2010] incident, as I step back, it kind of changed my perspective of where I am in my life right now," Jackson said. "This is my time to get involved and I’m going to."
The man who planted the explosives-laden car in Times Square, Faisal Shahzad, was sentenced to life in prison last October.
