Herald Square was the site of a dramatic incident on Christmas Day when a taxi mounted the sidewalk and struck six pedestrians, including a mother and her young son visiting from Australia. Following the event, bystanders took action to assist. According to ABC 7 New York, a group of individuals lifted the taxi to free two people who had been pinned underneath.
The crash, which occurred just after 4 p.m., was reportedly triggered by a medical emergency suffered by the 58-year-old cab driver. Eyewitnesses, including Ryan Tucker a tourist from Oregon, shared details of the incident. "I ran over and noticed there was a little boy, his leg was underneath the front passenger tire as it was spinning," Tucker said, "And then there was a group of people. One gentleman went over shut the car off, got into it and shut it off. There was a whole group of us that ripped the fender off, lifted the car back and then that's when I grabbed the little boy, got him to the corner, realized that what ended up being his mom underneath," ABC 7 New York reported.
Adding to the account, Resist the Mainstream described the immediate aftermath of the incident, which saw the mother and her 9-year-old son taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center while a 49-year-old woman was transported to Bellevue Hospital. All injuries were reported as non-life-threatening by the NYPD.
Amid the holiday festivities, the crash caused a moment of alarm among the crowd of shoppers and tourists. Sam Mohammed, 35, a hot dog vendor saw the ordeal unfold from his stand. "I was parked in front of this car and I saw the car going onto the sidewalk, and hitting people," Mohammed told The Post. "This is scary." Police are treating the incident as an accident, with no criminality suspected at this time, Resist the Mainstream reported.
As the investigation into the accident continues, authorities are working to gather more information and piece together the events that led to the crash.
