Taxi Crashes Into Upper East Side Restaurant, 1 Employee Injured
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- At least one person was hospitalized Friday after a taxi jumped the curb and crashed into a restaurant on the Upper East Side.
Police say it was a chain reaction crash and everyone is expected to survive.
Cell phone videos show the yellow cab lodged into the front of Amura Japanese Cuisine on Second Avenue by 81st Street.
Police say it all started with a three-car collision just before 5 p.m.
"We saw a taxi cab. He stopped 'cause someone else stopped short in front of him, then a white van smashed into him, a Range Rover it looked like, and another car smashed into the Range Rover," witness Conrad Stars said.
The force of the crash pushed the taxi up onto the curb. It went through a glass bus stop and into the restaurant.
"A big boom and then I just saw people start screaming," witness Sherry Pearce said.
"I ran over and opened the door and asked the driver if he was OK. He was OK, but there was an employee of the sushi restaurant that was injured," witness Mike Gjelaj told CBS2's Ali Bauman.
The Good Samaritan helped the employee, whose leg was injured in the crash.
"The cab was pretty much well embedded into the store. There was some glass and debris all over the place, but we managed to get him out, squeeze him out through the side of the front of the cab and then we sat him one of these outdoor chairs," Gjelaj said.
The victim was taken to the hospital, and all drivers involved stayed on scene.
As restaurant workers began cleaning up debris, a bustling Upper East Side carried on with its weekend.
"This is New York City. It's not the first time I witnessed something like this," Gjelaj said.
"It was a miracle that nobody was killed 'cause it's a busy area here," Stars said.
Police did not make any arrests, saying it appears there is no criminality, just an unfortunate accident with non-life-threatening injuries.
