October 8, 2007
Cab Jumps Midtown Curb, Kills Pedestrian
A former Channel 7 helicopter pilot was killed when an out-of-control taxi jumped a curb and hit him last night. Paul Smith and his family had just finished a birthday dinner at Dock's restaurant on Third Avenue at 40th Street. The cab had been speeding up Third Avenue when it suddenly jumped the curb and hit sidewalk planter, just when Smith and his family were leaving, and ended up pinning Smith underneath the cab.
The taxi driver was not charged with a crime yet, but it's unclear what caused him to lose control. An earlier report had suggested another car may have been speeding up Third Avenue as well, possibly causing the cab to swerve, but that has not been substantiated. There were many witnesses to the accident. One restaurant patron said, "It sounded like a huge car wreck. I looked out the window and I saw a guy on the ground. He looked dead. There was a lot of blood." Another said, "I saw the cab coming really fast. Fifty or 60 [mph] and then it came into the tree."
Smith was pronounced dead at Bellevue. WNBC reports that the 60-year-old Smith was the base manager for Helicopters Inc, which is "in charge of operations for all five of the major television station choppers." WABC 7 notes that Smith "had proven his skills on countless flights over collisions, blackouts and fires" and won an Emmy for covering the 2004 crash of WNBC's Chopper 4 in Brooklyn. He said on that day, "We all fly in close proximity and work well together, even though we compete. You want to be able to help, but you can't."
Smith's wife Donna is in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital. Their son Corey, a police officer, had received a medal from the NYPD, the day before.
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"sleepy" Murray Hill has seen a lot of action the past couple of weeks.
1. jumper
2. apartment fire
3. knife wielding crazy
4. cab/pedestrian accident
what is going on here?
would the steampipe explosion be considered murray hill? it was below 42nd street.
being that most avenues are 25–30 mph, there's really no excuse to be jumping curbs.
R.I.P.
I notice this cab still has the old decal so it hasn't been inspected recently.
being that most avenues are 25–30 mph, there's really no excuse to be jumping curbs.
edEx makes another moronic statement. Obviously he's against cars and hasn't driven one this century. You can jump a curb going 5 mph.
Obviously #5 is a moron -- you don't jump a curb, smash a 400lb flower pot to bits, pin a pedestrian standing AT LEAST 12 FEET AWAY FROM THE CURB, and push your engine block back into the dashboard going 25-30mph.
That cabbie, like most, is an asshole driver, probably driving a car that wouldn't pass any kind of real safety inspection. It'll be criminal if he's not ultimately brought up on charges after crash analysis.
Obviously #5 is the moron -- you don't jump a curb, smash a 400lb flower pot, pin a pedestrian standing 12 feet away from the curb and push your engine block into the dashboard going only 5mph. Or going 25-30mph.
This cabbie, like most, is an asshole driver. It'll be criminal if charges aren't brought after crash analysis.
NO GPS NO GPS!
EdEx, have you ever actually driven an automobile? One can easily destroy an entire undercarriage by hitting a curb at 15, much less 30. One could easily kill a human being by ramming 2 tons of steel into them at 30, 15 maybe you'll get away with a broken pelvis and a couple blown kneecaps.
Idiot.
The cab driver had to be going above the speed limit to cause that much damage. Anyway, my condolences to this poor family.
I take cabs fairly often. 9 out of 10 cabdrivers are terrible drivers who speed, swerve erratically around other cars, hammer on the gas and hammer on the breaks. And because so many of them drive like lunatics, I have to think they think this is the way to drive properly. I wish the city would require stringent road tests before issuing licences.
I'm wondering something..
How come nobody is blaming the victim on this one? I mean, if this guy was paying attention he surely should have been able to get out of the way.
Or is blaming the victim only reserved for certain types of victims?
I think 99.9% of pedestrians assume that vehicles won't be on the street. I also think that you're not expecting a knife-wielding man to attack you, or someone to hit you on the head with a brick. Sigh.
I don't believe in blaming the victim in any circumstance. Certainly not in this case where almost an entire family got struck as they were exiting a restaurant.
PH:
it's clear you haven't or you're just a horrific driver... at 25-30, you're much more in control and less likely to jump a curb when being cut off.
Jerk.
Of course the victim is at fault. This wouldn't have happened had he chosen to stay home instead - and that goes for that silly woman who decided to walk her dog in Kips Bay...
don't support these terrible drivers, don't take cabs
thankfully there were no outside seating.
Speeding on a city street should be mandatory jail time. It puts way to many people at grave risk.
Speed limit in NYC is 30mph on all streets. Less if posted.
If anything, WE should be on strike against taxi drivers who don't know how to drive!
Why does the article focus so much on what he did for a living...
Most of you clearly don't drive, and certainly have no concept of how fast a moving vehicle is. That bike hauling ass past you? Maybe 20 mph. Most cars on a street with staggered lights? 35. But if you get cut off going that fast, you're going to be out of control.
How brainless can you be-standing on a sidewalk, getting hit by a speeding cab does NOT mean it was your fault for being on what should have been a safe area to stand-he was hit, after all, after this stupid driver jumped a curb, hit a large planter and a tree.
Consider the fact that the driver was only 23 years old, a foreigner here for only 6 months, a driver for only 5 weeks, driving in Manhattan of all places-only an idiot would blame the victim.
The cab company better have good liability insurance, and the moron who hired this cretin and sent hm out to drive in Manhattan should lose their job too. It also just shows, 'there but for the grace of God go I"...
Rest in Peace, Paul, we all love you, and God bless you and Donna, Cory and Cale-you are so missed, this is an incredible and painful loss. Anyone who knew you knows what an awful and ironic tragedy this was, this man served two tours in VietNam, and flew almost everyday of his adult life in the most dangerous circumstances. It angers me that that cab driver might get away with this, he had NO BUSINESS being behind the wheel of a 2 ton vehicle in such a place.