On a Friday afternoon last month, a 58-year-old woman was struck and killed by a taxi while attempting to cross the street at 79th and Madison in Manhattan.
The licensed taxi driver was uninjured, but his passenger received treatment at the scene of the Upper East Side pedestrian accident.
The fatal accident occurred just after 2 p.m., when the woman stepped out into 79th Street and was mowed down by the taxi. Bystanders rushed to the woman’s aid immediately following the impact. Although she was pinned beneath the taxi, they were able to lift the vehicle off of her body.
One man who assisted in lifting the vehicle off of her observed that the woman appeared to initially have survived the impact, saying, “She was moving her mouth, but I don’t know.” Another man at the scene who assisted in the rescue attempts remarked, “She had a lot of head trauma.”
His assessment proved correct, as even though she was rushed to Lenox Hill Hospital by paramedics, it was too late to save her life.
The driver of the taxi was questioned by New York City police officers for hours as they attempted to ascertain the sequence of events leading up to the woman’s death. According to eyewitnesses, the driver appeared to be in shock. Police have not charged the driver in the accident.
New York City streets are notoriously hazardous and have proven deadly for many pedestrians, often from no fault of their own. If you are injured by a vehicle while crossing a city street or even while standing on the supposedly safe sidewalks, or if one of your loved ones was killed under similar circumstances, you may have a cause of action to sue for damages. A New York personal injury attorney will be able to explain more about what that cause of action entails.
Source: WABC, “Taxi Crashes, Kills Pedestrian on Upper East Side” Josh Einiger, Aug. 29, 2014
