Taxi strikes two women standing on sidewalk

Two women are recovering after they were hit by a taxicab that lost control on Manhattan’s Lower East Side Saturday, according to the New York City Fire Department. The victims were standing on a sidewalk when the cab jumped the curb and smashed into them.

The accident happened around 2:30 PM at Essex St. and Rivington St., the FDNY said.

Security video showed the terrifying moment when the yellow cab went over the curb. “Everything was normal and then all of a sudden, we hit the flower shop like it felt super… hard,” said a woman who only identified herself as “Brenna.” She told NBC New York she was a passenger in the taxicab when it suddenly left the road and hit a flower shop and the two women in front of the store.

“We had no idea what happened and then I came out. We saw someone on the ground. We saw someone was under the car,” she told News 4.

A witness named “Lee” who declined to give his last name said one of the victims landed to the right of the cab. “It was not calm at all. It was crazy… like everybody’s running, panicking.” Lee was among those who jumped in to help. Another witness, “Anthony,” who declined to give his last name, explained: “We tried calling (a victim’s) name and then we heard a little whisper. ‘I’m right here, I’m right here.’ And then we went around the other side and we were talking to her through the basement until we tell the police that that’s where she was at.”

The New York City Dept. of Buildings said first responders were able to move the cab to free both victims, who
were hospitalized along with the driver. DOB inspectors noticed damage to the building’s glass store front, along with the HVAC unit and the cellar door. But they did not see damage to the building itself.

“Walking in Manhattan, it’s crazy,” Anthony added.

The DOB says it has ordered the building owner to seal off the cellar in the interest of public safety. The cause of the crash is under investigation.