Sian Green, 23, a British tourist whose foot was severed on Tuesday when a New York City cab jumped a curb and hit her, will soon have her father and her boyfriend by her side.
Green was getting a hotdog with her friend near Rockefeller Center at 49th Street and Sixth Avenue on Tuesday morning when a cab swerved into pedestrians. The cab hit Green and the cyclist—the cyclist was not seriously injured.
A food vendor rushed to put Green’s severed foot on ice; a plumber on break from working at a Duane Reade store used his belt as a tourniquet; and television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz rushed from his office nearby to help the young woman.
Her friend, Keshia Warren, is with her in New York, the two women having embarked on the trip together. Her father, Jason Green, told British media he will be flying out to be with her as well.
“We are a really close family. We are all devastated by what has happened,” he told the Independent. “We don’t know what to say. We just want to be at our daughter’s side right now.”
Green’s boyfriend, William Lord, arrived home from a separate holiday in Ibiza on Tuesday and will fly to New York to be with Green, reports the Daily Mail.
Lord’s father, William Donaghue, told the Daily Mail his son had talked to Green and “Sian is as upbeat as you can be about this.” He said, “She is determined to not let this ruin her life.”
The plumber who showed his heroism and quick thinking on Tuesday to stymie Green’s bleeding, David Justino, also noted Green’s bravery. He told the New York Daily News Green is “a strong girl, a brave girl.”
“She was conscious the whole time, the poor thing,” he said.
Road Rage?
Police are investigating what caused the crash. It may have been a case of road rage.
The driver was 24-year-old Mohammed Himon, a 24-year-old married Bangladeshi immigrant who has been driving cab since 2010, reports the Dialy News. Bike messenger Kenneth Olivo told DNAInfo that he and Himon got into an altercation just before Himon swerved into pedestrians.
“[Himon] wanted to turn, but he didn’t want to wait,” Olivo said. “I told him to calm down . . . He gets angry, he honks his horn, and he accelerates, and that’s it—I’m on the hood of the car, and the woman is under his car . . . He accelerated, because I couldn’t escape him.”
Himon was issued a summons for being an unauthorized driver. Himon told the Daily News: “I feel really bad about the lady. I didn’t realize she was underneath my car. I’ll never forget her and I’ll never forgive myself.”
