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Bronx Woman Struck and Killed by Truck on Her Birthday

By  Heather Holland and Janon Fisher | November 11, 2013 3:03pm | Updated on November 12, 2013 8:21am

 A cab and a truck collided at 102nd Street and Park Avenue Nov. 11, 2013.
Crash at 102nd Street and Park Avenue
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MANHATTAN — A Bronx mother planning to celebrate her 65th birthday was killed in East Harlem Monday when a cab sideswiped a delivery truck, causing it to jump the curb and run her down, officials said.

Olga Rivera, who her daughter said suffered from a debilitating heart ailment, was rushed to Mt. Sinai Hospital, but she could not be saved, according to police.

The crash, which also injured three other people, occurred about 1 p.m. when a cab driving west on East 102nd Street hit a truck traveling south on Park Avenue, causing the truck to jump the curb and hit Rivera, who was walking east on 102nd Street, police said.

"She lived a happy life," said 43-year-old Vivian Rivera, Rivera's daughter. "She was a person who loved life."

Vivian Rivera said that her mother loved to dance, and had planned to have a birthday party later on Monday.

The mother was visiting her boyfriend, who lives in the neighborhood, when she was hit, Vivian Rivera said.

The three other people who were hurt were all riding in the cab, police said. The passengers of the cab — a mother and her 7-year-old daughter — were bleeding from the head after the accident, according to 52-year-old Ricardo Iglesias, who witnessed the crash.

It took emergency personnel about half an hour to remove the driver from the cab, Iglesias said.

The driver and passengers were taken to Mt. Sinai with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The truck driver was not injured, police said. He received summonses for equipment violations, according to police.