By Benjamin Fractenberg and Michael Ventura
DNAinfo Staff
CHELSEA — Two taxi cabs crashed into each other Tuesday afternoon, sending one person to the hospital and leaving automotive debris in the street.
The accident occurred at the intersection of West 17th Street and Eighth Avenue at roughly 1:30 P.M., fire officials said.
One person was taken to Bellevue Hospital, the FDNY said. The person's condition was not immediately known.
A waiter who was working at a restaurant called Nooch on the north-western corner of the intersection said he saw the accident, and that the cab heading west on 17th Street smashed into the side of the cab heading north on 8th Avenue.
The cab that was hit apparently "flipped over and crashed against the curb," James Arvay, 19, told DNAinfo.
The cab that was hit was sitting up on its side, until workers from nearby shops and restaurants came out and worked together to flip it back over, Arvay said.
He said he saw emergency rescuers pull the man out of the cab that was hit and put him on a gurney. The other taxi driver was initially standing up, but then was put on a stretcher and taken away, Arvey told DNAinfo.
The accident happened just before students were leaving nearby schools.
Gina Brown, 46, a teacher at O Henry Learning Center on 17th Street between 8th and 9th avenues said the street seemed dangerous.
"17th is like 'dead man's corner,'" she told DNAinfo. She explained 8th Avenue was a fast thoroughfare, 17th Street had a lot of car traffic, and there were also many pedestrians and a lot of bike traffic use in the bike lanes.
One taxi was seen at the intersection with its front-end smashed in and its front bumper in the Eighth Avenue bike lane. Shattered glass was scattered across the northwest corner of the intersection immediately after the accident.
The two cabs were towed away, and 17th Street was reopened mid-afternoon after being closed for 45 minutes.
