Pedestrian Struck, Killed By 'Taxi Of Tomorrow' On Upper East Side
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A woman was killed after being struck by a taxi cab on the Upper East Side Friday afternoon.
As CBS 2's Jessica Schneider reported, the incident took place at around 2 p.m. at 78th Street and Madison Avenue.
The cab was traveling north on Madison Avenue and began making a left turn onto 79th Street when it struck a 58-year-old woman crossing the street, 1010 WINS' Roger Stern reported.
The victim was thrown under the cab and dragged several feet, sources told CBS 2.
Ken Sumner was a half block away when he heard the thud of the taxi cab hitting a woman. He was one of many people who gathered in an attempt to save the victim.
"The doorman, he's asking her, 'Are you OK? Can you… this?' But we were hearing nothing. So that urge was there – she's not saying anything. Just push, you know?" Sumner said.
Around 20 pedestrians rushed to the cab and flipped it onto its side to rescue the woman, witnesses said.
"Another taxi guy – he just came and he was like, 'You've got to get it up,' and the construction guy, and we all – once we all got it about an inch, it just started rolling, like and tree coming down, you know? Just timber," Sumner said.
A construction worker who was nearby launched the collective effort to lift the car and get the woman out.
"We heard a crash and, and when I see the lady underneath the cab, I ran over to her," the worker said. "And then, we could get it up off of her, but I was afraid to drag her out. So we just said, 'Let's flip it over.'"
Paramedics rushed, in and the woman was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital. It was there that she was pronounced dead -- killed just walking down the street.
"That's the sad part, you know? We just lost a life in a New York minute," Sumner said.
But Sumner praised the valiant efforts of dozens of witnesses.
"People were putting their cars in park, because everything here was jammed up, and everyone put their cars in park and got a hand in there – pedestrians, the construction guys that were working on Madison – everyone just got in there," he said.
"I came out here and saw the blood and everything and just said to myself, 'This is a street I walk every day,'" one woman told WCBS 880's Jim Smith.
The cab sat on its side for hours with broken glass littering the street as passersby said it was scary to think it could happen to anyone.
"Senseless, horrible accident where someone lost their life," another pedestrian said.
The cab had a passenger, a 32-year-old woman, in it at the time of the accident, sources said. The passenger was treated at the scene.
The driver of the cab was licensed. No charges have been filed.
The cab involved in the crash is a Nissan NV2000, better known as the "Taxi of Tomorrow."
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