Sian Green, a 23-year-old, was visiting Rockefeller Center
when during her full first day of her dream vacation an unexpected damper in
plans abruptly changed her life late Tuesday morning. She was enjoying a hot
dog while sitting on a fountain while in an effort to allegedly avoid a
collision with a cyclist, a New York taxicab lost control of his vehicle,
jumped the curb and crashed into the British tourist and managed to sever one
of her feet and seriously injure the other.
Green bought hot dogs at Sixth Ave. and 50th St. about 11:20
a.m. with her only friend in New York, Keshia Warren. They sat on the ledge of
a fountain in a crowded plaza on the avenue to enjoy their food while an
episode unfolded between a cyclist and a taxicab driver.
Faysal Kabir Mohammad Himon, 24, of Queens allegedly became
frustrated when a bicyclist began to pound on his vehicle. Himon’s brother said
that instead of pressing the brakes, Himmon became confused and stepped on the accelerator.
“I’m not sure what happened next,” Himon told reporters. “I
was up on the curb.”
Kenneth Olivo, the bike messenger told a different story. He
blamed the situation on the cab driver who struck him with the taxi then lost control.
“I told him to stop
because I’m trying to go forward and people are crossing,” said Olivo, 40-years-old.
“He loses his patience. He gets angry. He accelerates. Hits me.”
Olivo was reportedly heading north on Sixth Ave., pedaling
to the right of the cab when it cut him off. “I’m on the roof of a car like in
a Steven Seagal movie, okay. And I’m on the sidewalk. I’m like this looking up
at the sky.”
David Justino, 44, was able to get one of the women away
from the vehicle but he said it all happened too fast and is upset he couldn’t
get both of them away from danger.
Many are saying that it was Justino’s quick thinking that
was probably responsible for saving the life of Green. Just as fast as he
reacted earlier, he pulled off his utility belt and used it as a tourniquet on Green’s
foot as soon as he noticed her foot had been severed.
“I was watching the girl,” Justino said. “I just couldn’t
let go. Because as so as I let go a little bit, she started squirting blood
back out. So I got really tight on it and said I’m not letting go until a
doctor shows up.”
That was when television’s Dr. Oz showed up to the scene and
encouraged Justino to keep doing what he was doing until emergency personnel
arrived on the scene. Green was awake and screaming in pain while all of this
was happening. Some wished she had passed out instead. A crowd gathered around
her and some snapped a pictured of the severed foot.
She was taken to Bellevue Hospital but doctors were unable
to reattach her foot and had to amputate part of her leg.
“I feel really bad about the lady,” said Himon, a married
Bangladeshi immigrant who has been driving a cab since 2010. “I didn’t realize
she was underneath my car. I’ll never forget her and I’ll never forgive
myself.”
He was issued a summons for “unauthorized use,” an
administrative violation for not submitting a form notifying the Taxi and
Limousine Commission that he would be driving that particular cab.
“Nothing like this has happened to me before,” Himon said.
Justino is looking forward to meeting Green after her family
visits her at the hospital. Her family are already on a flight to New York.
If you were injured in an automobile wreck, contact a car accident lawyer. You could get compensation to pay for your hospital bills and future medical expenses, as well as any other damages.
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