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Bogus 911 Call Sparks Real FDNY Crash on Upper East Side

By Maya Shwayder | July 20, 2012 4:14pm
The livery cab was hit when the FDNY truck came through the intersection off the FDR drive.
The livery cab was hit when the FDNY truck came through the intersection off the FDR drive.
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DNAinfo/Maya Shwayder

UPPER EAST SIDE — An FDNY truck responding to a false-alarm 911 call was involved in an actual accident on 96th and First Avenue Friday when the emergency vehicle smashed into a taxi in the middle of the intersection.

A woman passing by a construction site on 96th and Second Ave. Friday morning thought she saw a person dangling from a crane, and called 911, according to a construction worker on site who did not wish to give her name.

At 10:32 AM, FDNY and NYPD were on their way to the scene, when an FDNY Haz-Tac truck coming off the FDR drive smashed into a livery cab in the middle of the intersection of 96th Street and First Avenue.

According to the FDNY, one firefighter and the driver of the cab were taken to Cornell Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Two witnesses near the scene, Massai Hood, 33, and William Sallie, 29, said they saw the Haz-Tac truck "fly through the intersection and bore through the taxi."

"It skidded and hit the Lexus next," Hood said, indicating a grey Lexus also on the scene with a smashed driver door.

"The taxi driver couldn't get out of the car. They [the FDNY] had to take the car door off and put him on a stretcher," Hood added.