Green taxi jumps curb and strikes 4 in NYC; man and 5-year-old-girl dead

Police say a taxi hurtled onto a sidewalk and hit four people waiting at a New York City bus stop, killing a man and a 5-year-old girl and injuring two other people, reports the Associated Press.

The incident occurred around 6:30 p.m. Friday on Grand Concourse near 170th Street, near the Highbridge section of the Bronx.

Authorities say 25-year-old Kadeem Brown was pronounced dead at the scene while 5-year-old Tierre Clark was pronounced dead at a hospital. A 55-year-old man is also hospitalized in critical condition and a 39-year-old woman is in stable condition.

It’s not immediately known whether any of the pedestrians were related.

Police say the cab driver was driving on a service road travel lane on the Grand Concourse when he struck a parked car, causing minor injuries to the woman driving it, before jumping the curb and hitting the pedestrians. The cab driver was taken to the hospital with unknown injuries.

These latest deaths involving a taxi strike come as Vision Zero, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s road traffic safety initiative, enters its second year of existence in the Big Apple. Gothamist reports several recent incidents where drivers who have struck and killed cyclists and pedestrians have received no jail time or comparatively minor punishments.

In January of last year, 9-year-old Cooper Stock was killed by a taxi as he crossed an Upper West Side street with his father. His mother Dana Lerner, was outraged at the ‘inept’ handling of the case by the DA, citing bad weather conditions as the reason for not pressing charges against the driver.

“They told me there is nothing in the law right now that specifies that [he] can be charged with any crime,” Lerner said at the time. “The laws in New York State which say you can kill someone and not face any real consequences are appalling, and they need to be changed.”

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