Taxi crashes, kills pedestrian on Upper East Side

NEW YORK (WABC) -- One person was killed, and another was injured when a taxi crashed on the Upper East Side.

"It looked like she was OK," said Justin Havlik, a Good Samaritan.

When he woke up Friday morning, Justin Havlik couldn't have imagined he'd find himself shoulder to shoulder with strangers, trying to save a woman's life.

"We just did what we had to do," another Good Samaritan said.

The onlookers jumped into action just after 2 Friday afternoon, after a 58-year-old woman started to cross 79th Street at Madison.

"Like a thud and then you heard screaming," said Paige Morrow, a witness.

The taxi plowed right into her, pinning her underneath.

"They couldn't actually pull her out," Havlik said.

"I got ahold of her hand; there wasn't much we could do until we got the car off her," the other Good Samaritan said.

"I grabbed the bottom of the car and I screamed and I lifted the car," Havlik said.

"What are you going to run the other way? Lady's under the cab?" the other Good Samaritan said.

"And then I rested the car on my knee, like braced on my thigh holding it," Havlik said.

The Good Samaritans lifted the taxi and rested it on its side, but the woman underneath was in very bad shape.

"She was moving her mouth, but I don't know," the other Good Samaritan said.

"She had a lot of head trauma, a lot of head trauma," Havlik said.

Paramedics rushed her to Lenox Hill Hospital, but it was too late.

As they worked to piece together the accident, police questioned the cab driver for hours.

Eyewitnesses say it looked like he was in shock.

So was Havlik when he found out that the woman didn't make it.

"I was praying to God that she was going to be OK," Havlik said.

The taxi driver, who is licensed, was not hurt. His passenger, a 32-year-old woman, was treated for pain at the scene but was not seriously hurt.

No charges have been filed.