An out-of-control New York City taxi hit a cyclist Tuesday morning beneath the Rockefeller Center and plowed into a British tourist, severing her foot in a dramatic mid-morning scene.
TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, who has an office nearby, was among the people who rushed to help 23-year-old Sian Green. A plumber used his belt to make a life-saving tourniquet for the woman’s leg while a pizza truck owner raced to put her severed foot on ice.
Ms Green, who arrived from England last night, had reportedly just bought a hot dog and was eating it by the fountain with a female friend when she was hit by the cab.
Witnesses said the vehicle was on Sixth Avenue and 49th Street just after 11am when it hit the cyclist before jumping the curb, crashing into the woman and coming to a stop by a fountain.
She remained conscious throughout the ordeal and was rushed to Bellevue Hospital where she is undergoing surgery. One of her legs was severed at the ankle and she suffered injuries to the other.
The cab driver, 24-year-old Faysal Kabir Mohammad Himon of Queens, was issued a summons for being an unauthorized driver and then set free, according to the New York Daily News. The Daily News spoke to Himon at the police precinct.
‘I am in shock,’ said Himon, a Bangladeshi immigrant who has been a taxi driver since 2010. ‘Nothing like this has happened to me before.’ His record shows he had three moving violations in 2011 for running a red light and speeding.
Himon’s brother said that Himon had gotten into a fight with the cyclist just before the accident and that ‘He went to hit the brake and stepped on the accelerator instead.’
But the cyclist, 40-year-old Kenneth Olivo, said Himon had cut him off moments before the crash and started honking, then struck him.
‘I told him to stop because I’m trying to go forward and people are crossing,’ the cyclist said. ‘He loses his patience. He gets angry. He accelerates. Hits me.’
Leave a reply