A speeding SUV with seven passengers catapulted from an elevated section of the FDR Drive early yesterday and landed on a taxi 20 feet below — yet somehow all seven and the cabby survived.
“I saw the SUV flying sideways ready to flip on the cab below,” said Gwendolyn London Jones. “I heard everyone screaming, ‘Oh, my God! Oh, my God!’ ”
It was just after 3 a.m. when Eric Bryant, 38, of Manhattan, lost control of his Range Rover, hit a guardrail and took the death-defying dive onto the taxi.
Miraculously, Atif Raza, 23, escaped his yellow Crown Victoria unscathed.
“It felt like an earthquake,” the shocked cabby said.
The impact thrust his body toward the windshield as the roof caved in.
“I didn’t know what it was,” Raza said. “I’m happy to be alive. I’m getting a second chance. . . . I’m really going to be going to the mosque now.”
Security guard London Jones said seven people inside the SUV were more seriously hurt.
“There were two people in the front seat and they were saying ‘Get me out of here! Help, help,” Jones said. “The roof was crushing their heads.”
One backseat passenger moaned for help, and a good Samaritan whose car had broken down nearby rushed to her aid.
“I tugged at her seat belt and dragged her out of the window,” said Brian Duncan.
All eight people were rushed to Bellevue Hospital, with two listed in critical condition. No charges were filed, and the SUV driver passed a Breathalyzer, cops said.
The driver lost an ear and doctors had to amputate a passenger’s leg, according to his family.
“If the cab wasn’t there they would be dead by now,” Duncan said.
Additional reporting by Kelsey Huebert