Taxis collide on Upper East Side, crash into pedestrians, NYPD says

Two taxis crashed on the Upper East Side and one hit multiple people eating outside a restaurant on Second Avenue on Sunday, July 30, 2017, police said. Photo Credit: Mort Kaye Studios/ Courtesy of Junior’s

A pair of yellow cabs collided on Sunday afternoon and one mounted the sidewalk, hitting several people eating at a restaurant on the Upper East Side, including two children, police said.

The taxis, one sedan and one van, slammed into each other just before 3:10 p.m. near 85th Street and Second Avenue, an FDNY spokesman said, with one jumping the curb and careening into a group of people eating outside the Wahlburgers restaurant on Second Avenue.

A 46-year-old woman and a 9-year-old girl, believed to be mother and daughter, and a 1-year-old boy all suffered minor injuries and were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, police said.

Witnesses said the first taxi appeared to run a red light as it drove down Second Avenue, slamming into the larger taxi and then jumping the curb.

“There was a mother who immediately picked up her baby, and she was screaming,” said Liron Sham, who works at Park East Kosher a few storefronts down. “The taxi completely flattened the baby carriage.”

Upper East Side resident Angelo DiGangi, 56, was in a nearby deli when he heard a bang and ran out.

“The two taxi drivers hopped out and immediately started arguing with each other about whose fault it was,” DiGangi said, adding the child appeared bloody. “Neither of them went to check on the victims.”

Kate Erbland, 33, was on her way to meet someone when she noticed the damaged taxis and strewed debris in front of the Wahlburgers restaurant.

“I thought, ‘Oh that’s insane,’ ” she said, adding that the outdoor seating area of the burger restaurant was in tatters. “There’s chairs everywhere, there’s napkins and broken glass just thrown everywhere, there’s food everywhere.”

One of the chairs, she said, was wedged up on a table.

The two drivers, a 38-year-old man and a 25-year-old man, remained on the scene, police said.