Tragic news: British tourist hit by New York taxi, one leg cut off, the other crushed (WATCH)

 

Sian Green, 23, was hit by a taxi cab Tuesday morning in a horrific accident that severed her foot

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.

The cab driver, 24, Faysal Kabir Mohammad Himon of Queens, (right) was issued a summons for being an unauthorized driver and then set free, according to the New York Daily News

‘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.’

What appears to be blood is seen on the front left bumper of a taxi that hit a British tourist on Tuesday

David Justino, a 44-year-old plumber who witnessed the crash as he took a coffee break, told NBC he removed his belt and fashioned a tourniquet for the woman’s leg before paramedics arrived.

‘He hit the girl, she flew up in the air, her leg was severed right off … so I just grabbed my belt, went over, lifted her up, put it on, held it,’ he said.

‘She was conscious the whole time, the poor thing,’ he added to the New York Daily News. ‘I wished she would have passed out… [She is a] strong girl, a brave girl.’

Dr Oz, who works at studios nearby, raced to the scene when he heard the crash and saw Justino put on the tourniquet – which the doctor said was crucial to her survival.

Sources told the New York Daily News that doctors are trying to reattach the foot.

Witnesses said that the cyclist was also hit and thrown over the cab’s hood before it hit the woman. Police said he had been hit but had only suffered minor injuries.

Dr Oz added: ‘It’s really a miracle on the corner of 49th and 6th, one of New York City’s busiest corners, that not more people were hurt in this accident.’

Authorities have not said what caused the driver to jump the curb, but the cyclist told DNAinfo that the driver tried to make a left as the cyclist was passing him.

‘I told him, “Stop”,’ he said. ‘He gets angry. He honked his horn and accelerates.’

He said the driver then hit him, knocking him on the car’s hood. The driver has not been charged but police are investigating. The cab company, NYC Taxi Group, declined to comment.

After hitting the cyclist and woman, the taxi came to a stop perched on a granite wall that surrounds a fountain in front of a building. The woman’s severed foot could be seen beneath the taxi.

Other witnesses told Fox that ‘multiple people’ were hit.

‘As we were crossing [the street] with other pedestrians, the cab started to pull into the crosswalk,’ said witness Jeffrey Hayes, who is in town from Massachusetts to visit family.

‘The was a man riding along this way on his bicycle with a backpack and he got picked up by the cabbie and was thrown up on the hood and up on his windshield.

‘The cab really accelerated at a great speed. We couldn’t believe it,’ he said. ‘It smashed into the barrier here. There was a woman… It just nailed her.’

Dr Oz, a heart surgeon, uploaded an image of him and the hero plumber to Facebook after the incident. He also described the moment he heard the crash.

While in a meeting in our offices near Rockefeller Center, I heard an accident occur on the street below,’ he wrote. A taxi driver lost control of his cab and collided with a woman, badly injuring her leg.

‘David Justino, a plumber from New York, took action, removing his belt and using it as a tourniquet.

‘With the help of NYC first responders, who are the best in the world, the woman was treated and rushed to a local hospital.

‘I applaud the quick thinking and heroic actions of David and the first responders. My prayers are with the victim for a speedy recovery.’

Police are questioning the taxi driver.

Video here:

 

Read more: Daily Mail

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