Taxi jumps curb, strikes light pole, injures 3

[May 30, 2008]  CHICAGO (AP) -- A taxicab mistakenly set in reverse, jumped a curb at a busy crosswalk near Union Station, and struck a light pole, injuring two pedestrians and the driver during the Thursday morning rush, police said.

The two women were treated and released from hospitals; a passenger in the cab refused treatment at the scene.

The driver, Brian Duako, 38, of Chicago was cited with negligent driving. He was getting out of his taxi when he noticed it was in reverse. His leg got caught between his vehicle and another cab, and he hit the accelerator instead of the brake, Chicago Police Sgt. Antoinette Ursitti.

Duako was in good condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he was taken with a serious leg injury, officials said.

Schuyler Pepin, 14, said he was selling newspapers on the street nearby when he saw the taxi driver apparently arguing with a driver in another cab.

Pepin said the driver of the taxi that crashed had his door open as if he were going to get out of the vehicle.

Pepin said it seemed that "he thought he put it in park, but he had it in reverse."

A woman who answered the phone at Chicago Carriage Cab, the company name on the cab towed from the scene, said the company had no comment.

The crosswalk where the crash occurred is just west of a bridge over the Chicago River and near an exit from Union Station, a busy Amtrak and commuter train station.

[Associated Press; By CARLA K. JOHNSON]

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