Reuters/Eric Gaillard
Investigators continue to work at the scene near the heavy truck that ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores who were celebrating the Bastille Day July 14 national holiday on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, July 15, 2016.
A truck bulldozed through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day, a major French holiday, on Thursday night when one person jumped onto the hood of the truck, allowing the police enough time to stop the driver.
"It was at that moment that the police were able to stop the terrorist," Eric Ciotti, an official with the Alpes-Maritimes department which covers the Nice area, told Europe 1 radio Friday, the New York Times reported.
Ciotti said the truck's driver shot at the person who had jumped into its path before turning his pistol on police officers, but missed all of his targets. Police then shot and killed the driver.
"I will never forget the look of the policewoman who intercepted the killer," Ciotti said.
The driver has since been identified by authorities as 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel of Nice.
At least 18 people remain in serious condition and 54 children have been hospitalized since the attack, the French newspaper Nice-Matin reported.