The accident happened around 7 p.m. at Canal and Forsyth streets.
Authorities say the driver of a minivan lost control of his vehicle while parallel parking, jumping the curb and hitting a fruit stand.
"The car just suddenly appeared and banged into the wall backward," said witness Jin Lin, who saw several pedestrians trapped between the vehicle and the wall. "I was just so shocked."
The man killed was identified as 56-year-old Chun Deng Zhang, of Queens.
The injured pedestrians were taken to Bellevue Hospital, where two are listed in critical but stable condition and two in serious but stable condition.
The driver, a 70-year-old man whose identity has not been released, remained at the scene.
He was arrested and charged with seven counts each of failure to yield, failure to exercise due care, unsafe backing of a vehicle, and driving on/across a sidewalk.
Two people inside the minivan, including the driver, refused medical attention.
Mayor Bill de Blasio released a statement about the crash on social media:
Terrible car crash on Canal St has killed 1 pedestrian and injured 6 more. A full NYPD investigation is underway. We cannot accept loss of life on our streets as inevitable. We will continue working harder every day to reach #VisionZero.
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) November 27, 2018
It is not yet clear what caused the driver to lose control.
The investigation is ongoing.
