MIDTOWN — A quick-thinking Starbucks barista pulled a cab driver and his passenger to safety Monday after a manhole exploded underneath their vehicle, shattering its windshield and trapping them inside, he said.
Bernard Vickers, 23, ran out of the Starbucks on East 44th Street and Lexington Avenue about 6:30 a.m. Monday after witnessing the explosion.
"As the cab was going over the transformer, the transformer exploded," Vickers, of Central Harlem, told DNAinfo New York.
"It was pretty loud, just a giant boom."
Vickers rushed outside and saw the driver and his passenger stuck in the car on Lexington Avenue, he said.
"They couldn’t get the doors open. I pulled the driver out the driver-side window and helped the passenger get out of the sunroof," he said.
"They were both panicking."
The driver and the passenger, who were not immediately identified, were taken to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries, according to the FDNY.
Vickers said his actions were simply an instinctive reaction.
"I just reacted like anyone else would’ve," he said. "It was some way to start off the week."