NYC Taxi Victim Speaks Out: ‘I Didn’t Even Know What Happened’

A 9-year-old boy visiting New York for the holidays will remain hospitalized “for a while,” the boy’s mother said after they were both stuck in a taxi on Christmas Day.

“[It] hit us from behind. I didn’t even know what happened,” the 41-year-old mother, who came from Australia with her family, told New York’s ABC station WABC. “I just remember being on the floor and something about me. I could hear the wheels screeching and my son screaming next to me.”

The taxi jumped the curb and struck six pedestrians in Herald Square shortly after 4 p.m. on Christmas Day after the 58-year-old driver suffered a medical emergency, police said. All of the pedestrians hit suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and three of them — including the mother and son — were transported to area hospitals, authorities said.

Witness Ryan Tucker told WABC that he and several other good Samaritans helped lift the mother and son’s cabin after the accident.

“I ran over and noticed there was a little boy, his leg was under the front passenger tire as he was spinning,” Tucker told the station.

A man stopped the car, according to Tucker.

“There was a whole group of us ripping the fender off, lifting the car up, and that’s when I kind of grabbed the little boy,” Tucker told WABC.

Tucker, who was visiting from Oregon, told WABC that his wife was also hit by the taxi on her back shoulder. He said he made sure his wife was okay before joining others to help the mother and son.

The boy broke his right femur in the accident and has “severe” burns on his leg, his mother told WABC.

“He’s going to be in the hospital for a while,” she told the station.

“We were here just for the Christmas holidays,” she added. “Christmas and New Years. Third day in town and it happened.”

The taxi driver was transported to Bellevue for further evaluation. No criminal offense is suspected, police said.

ABC News’ Victoria Arancio and Leah Sarnoff contributed to this report.