Seven people were injured, including a child, when a taxi crashed into pedestrians on a sidewalk near Herald Square in New York City on Christmas Day.
The accident happened next to the iconic Macy’s department store on the corner of West 34th Street and the Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan shortly after 4pm.
It was reported that the 58-year-old driver lost control of his cab after suffering a medical emergency.
A nine-year-old boy suffered a cut and a 41-year-old woman sustained an injury to her head, police said. Both were taken to Bellevue hospital. Two women aged 49 and three others, aged between 19 and 31, were also injured. One of the women suffered an injury to her leg and was also taken to the hospital while the others declined treatment at the scene.
Eyewitness News ABC 7 reported that a passer-by visiting from Oregon helped free the boy and his mother after they became trapped underneath the taxi.
The tourist, who did not want to give his name, told the outlet that his wife was hit in the back on the shoulder as the vehicle mounted the sidewalk. He said he helped the boy.
“I ran over and noticed there was a little boy, his leg was underneath the front passenger tire as it was spinning. And then there was a group of people. One gentleman went over shut the car off, got into it shut it off. There was a whole group of us that ripped the fender off, lifted the car back and then that’s when I grabbed the little boy, got him to the corner, realized that what ended up being his mom underneath.”
Sam Mohammed, 35, a hot dog stand worker told the New York Post he was serving customers when the taxi crashed feet away from him.
He told the paper: “I was parked in front of this car and I saw the car going onto the sidewalk and hitting people. This is scary.”
Macy’s flagship store, which is elaborately decorated and lit up for the holidays, is a popular attraction for tourists and New Yorkers alike.
While the incident appears to be an accident, it comes in the wake of a deliberate attack by a driver on a crowd of Christmas shoppers in Germany last week, in which five people, including a nine-year-old boy, were killed.