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Woman Rushed to Hospital after Cab in Crash Spins onto Sidewalk

By  Jill Colvin and Amy Zimmer | July 23, 2012 10:02pm | Updated on July 24, 2012 6:54am

One of the two cabs  involved in a crash at Second Avenue and E. 79th Street Monday night.
One of the two cabs involved in a crash at Second Avenue and E. 79th Street Monday night.
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BMR Breaking News

YORKVILLE — A 28-year-old woman was rushed to the hospital with head trauma after being struck by a taxi that spun onto the sidewalk at the southeast corner of Second Avenue and East 79th Street Monday night, police and witnesses said.

The SUV taxi that hit the woman had first been involved in a crash with a Crown Victoria cab before spinning out of control, witnesses said.

The unidentified woman was taken to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, FDNY officials said. She was stable early Tuesday, an NYPD spokesman said.

Delti Braha, 29, doorman at the Continental Palace, near the intersection, ran outside to help the woman just after hearing the loud boom about 7 p.m.

"She was face down, bleeding," said Braha, who was told by others on the block that she had been standing on the street when the cabs got into the accident.

"[The SUV] slammed into her and she was on the floor," he said. "It's sad."

An NYPD spokesman said there was no criminality was suspected "at this time," and that both drivers remained at the scene.

How the accident occurred was not immediately clear.

Police officers at the intersection said the SUV cab was making a left turn from Second Avenue onto East 79th Street.  One witness said she screamed when she saw the Crown Vic because it was speeding eastward on East 79th Street just before the incident happened.

But the driver of the Crown Vic, who declined to give his name, claimed that the other cab passed a red light while going south on Second Avenue.

"He was running the red light, so he hit the [pedestrian]," the Crown Vic driver, who appeared unharmed, claimed. "I'm really sorry for her friends, for her family, her children, whatever she has. It is stupid. All for $5. …I'm very sad for her. Honest, it's crazy."

Braha said it was not uncommon for cars to go fast at that intersection.

"Everybody speeds up," he said. "They're trying to catch the lights."