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Cab Hits and Kills Woman on Upper East Side, Speeds off: Cops

Police are combing through surveillance video after a woman was run over and killed, reportedly by a yellow cab driver who then fled the scene early Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, residents have called the spot on Lexington Avenue where the woman was hit a danger zone. Erica Byfield reports.

A yellow taxi cab struck and killed a homeless woman walking in a Manhattan school zone, then sped off, according to police.

The woman was hit on East 68th Street and Lexington Avenue on the Upper East Side around 5 a.m. Wednesday.

She was pronounced dead at an area hospital, officials said.

Street vendor Alberto de la Cruz said he didn't hear a sound when the woman was hit.

"Nothing. Not a breaking. Not a noise. Nothing," he said. 

De la Cruz said the woman was barely breathing when he ran over to her. 

Police say they are still looking for the driver of the cab. The NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission tells News 4 it is "actively assisting" the NYPD in the investigation and referred any questions about the probe to the police department.

Traffic was shut down in the area as authorities investigated.

De la Cruz, who gets to work between 4 and 5 a.m. each morning, is convinced that the cab was speeding and hopes the driver will be caught. 

"I almost got hit here unhitching my cart. It's really dangerous here," he said. 

"They always get their man," he added. "Trust me, they always get there man." 

Two other people were hurt in an unrelated accident not far away. According to the FDNY, the victims were taken to a hospital in unknown condition when a vehicle somehow flipped over near 76th Street and Madison around 6:30 a.m.

That accident is also under investigation.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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