Woman critically injured after getting struck, pinned between taxis in New York City while loading luggage: cops
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Monday, March 2, 2015, 8:47 AM
Updated: Monday, March 2, 2015, 5:35 PM
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FACEBOOKRosemarie Mifsud, 42, was loading luggaage in one taxi when another one struck her from behind, pinning her.
A 42-year-old mother of two from California was critically injured Monday morning when she was struck and pinned between two taxis on a Midtown Manhattan street, police sources said.
Rosemarie Mifsud was putting her luggage in the trunk of a cab outside 750 Seventh Ave. about 6 a.m. when another taxi hit her from behind, wedging her between the two vehicles, cops said.
"The cab pinned her,” her husband, Paul Mifsud, 44, said in a phone interview from their home in the San Francisco area.
“She was putting luggage in the trunk,” he said. “So from her perspective it just came out of nowhere. He hit her pretty hard.”
The devastated husband said his wife was with her brother-in-law and was headed to JFK to catch her flight home. She was in New York to attend the wake of a friend, he said.
Mifsud, a software account manager, has two boys, 8 and 11, and was taken by ambulance to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition, officials said.
Leslaw Zielinski, 61, the cab driver who was about to take her to the airport remained on the scene as did Mohamed Gendia, who was driving the cab that struck her, officials said.
Gendia just finished his first year as a licensed cabbie and has a clean record, a spokesman with the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission said. He wasn’t immediately summonsed or charged.
He hit my sister, pinned her between two cars. He obviously was not paying attention.
Leon Mass, 34, runs a breakfast cart and saw the crash.
"The first taxi's passenger was near the trunk. She has a briefcase," he said. "The other cab smashed right into the back. He crushed her."
Mass said he was setting up for the morning when he heard the commotion.
"I heard her scream," he said. "The cab backed up and she fell to the ground. Her legs were crushed. There was heavy bleeding. I ran over and so did a few other people."
He said she appeared to be in shock.
"She was very calm," he said. "The cab driver (who hit her), he was really upset at what happened."
Police were investigating the cause of the crash, cops said. The wreck may have been the result of icy road conditions, cops said.
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Mifsud’s sister, Daniela DeFilippis, said the accident caps a "very, very, very hard week.
"Her friend was sick and she passed away," the sister said. "We were at her wake all weekend and she was on her way home."
She said her sister suffered compound leg fractures. She accused the cabbie of being distracted.
“He hit my sister, pinned her between two cars,” the sister said. “He obviously was not paying attention.”
The family hired Manhattan lawyer Brian O'Dwyer, who said Mifsud was undergoing extensive surgery.
"What the total permanency is going to be has yet to be seen, but it's not good news,” he said. "Given the circumstances of the accident we are asking that the police department and district attorney take a very close look at pursuing charges.”
