By: Victoria Drake
Enjoy a good bike-ride in Midtown Manhattan? Our New York City law firm knows all too well the dangers of bike riding in Manhattan as we have represented many injured cyclists. Kenneth Olivo, a bike messenger riding in the bike lane along 6th Avenue in the heart of Rockefeller Center was fighting with a cab driver, identified as Mohammed Himon. The cabbie wanted to turn onto 49th street, but did not want Olivo to cut him off, so Himon decided to hit the gas a little too hard. The cabbie slammed into the bike messenger sending him 15 feet into the air. The cyclist walked away from the accident with some scrapes and a shaken core, but the same cannot be said of other passers-by.
After colliding with the cyclist, the cabbie mounted the curb and flattened a British tourist who was walking along 6th Avenue; as a result 22-year old Sian Green lost her left foot in the accident. New Yorkers who witnessed the accident rushed to her aid, she was brought to Bellevue Hospital.
The cab driver will not be criminally charged, but will face several summonses and maybe a few angry bike messengers. This is not Himon’s first accident; he has been involved in traffic injuries and fines for reckless driving and speeding since 2010. If you as a bicyclist have ever been struck by a NYC yellow taxi cab or know anyone who has, please contact our firm and we would be happy to explain what legal rights you have.
Source: The New York Post, “Cabbie ‘fighting with cyclist’ jumps curb and crushes tourist; Good Sams save her life, but Brit gal loses foot“, Kirstan Conley, Larry Celona, and Daniel Prendergast, August 20, 2013.
