Police: Taxi driver slams into Upper East Side bank after fleeing scene of crash with another cab
NEW YORK -- A taxi driver slammed into a bank in Manhattan on Sunday after, police say, he had been involved in a hit-and-run a few blocks away.
It all began with an accident between two cabs at East 79th Street and Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side. Police say one of the drivers, a 74-year old, left the scene and was chased by the second cabbie, a 62-year-old.
The 74-year-old was allegedly driving erratically and jumped the curb at East 79th Street and Third Avenue, slamming into scaffolding and then the wall of a bank.
Officials say this all happened around 10:35 a.m.
A witness told CBS2's Thalia Perez that as he and other bystanders were pulling the driver out of the cab, there was concern that the scaffolding was going to fall on them.
"I run across the street [with] two other people, try to help the cabbie to get out of the cab. He was pretty banged up, right side of his face was messed up. While we're trying to get him out, people are screaming about the scaffolding maybe collapsing or coming down so we, like, rushed," Tim Rivera said.
Rivera says fortunately, none of the scaffolding came down, and no one on the sidewalk was hurt. Workers began dismantling the scaffolding after the crash.
Police say the 74-year-old driver was taken to a local hospital in police custody. Charges are pending.
Meanwhile, the other cabbie was last reported to be in critical condition after going into cardiac arrest.