MIDTOWN - A man with a cane was struck and severely injured by an MTA bus as he was jaywalking across Fifth Avenue on Wednesday afternoon, witnesses and officials said.
The accident occurred outside the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue at 56th Street at 3:46 p.m. The victim went out into traffic between two parked cars and was hit by the southbound BxM9 bus, according to the MTA. Witnesses said the bus driver had a green light.
The victim was taken to New York-Presbyterian/Cornell Weill Medical Center with multiple injuries, according to FDNY. Officials had no further information about the victim.
"It wasn't the driver's fault," eyewitness Mary Flynn told DNAinfo New York. She described sitting in the foremost seat of the bus, next to the driver, when she saw a head peek out above the windshield.
"He came out of nowhere," Flynn said of the victim.
According to Flynn, the driver was not immediately aware that there had been an accident. "I told him he hit someone," she said. "He didn't even know he hit someone."
Maria Pacheco, another eyewitness, was standing at the bus stop at the intersection of 56th Street and Fifth Avenue and saw the accident happen. She said the victim was in the middle of the street when he was hit.
"The tire was over his legs. His legs were trapped," Pacheco said. "It just started moving and it pinned him."
Leon Talbot, 47, was on his way to work when he saw the victim lying in the street. Talbot told DNAinfo there was "blood everywhere."
"He was smashed in the middle," Talbot said of the victim. "He was conscious and screaming, 'Please back up, please back up, please back up!'"
"The bus driver was stunned," Talbot added.
The status of the driver is not yet known, MTA officials said.
