A pleasant sightseeing tour around Midtown turned to horror with a simple turn of the wheel yesterday when a double-decker bus plowed into a woman crossing the street.
Lolaa Alrashied, struck just steps from the United Nations, was pinned under the bus and screaming in pain as shocked tourists looked on.
Alrashied had been rushing to cross as the bus, which had a green light, was turning onto 42nd Street.
“I was just on my way to the shower, and I heard cries,” said Sean Bloch, 27, who lives nearby.
“I heard, ‘Don’t touch her! Don’t move her!’ She was screaming.”
Alrashied was wedged face down under the frame of the Gray Line bus — which had been turning left onto East 42nd Street — between the front and back wheels. Her sunglasses were thrown a few feet and she was clutching her gold purse as she grimaced in pain just feet from the crosswalk.
Passers-by raced to her aide as the 20 horrified sightseers aboard the bus looked on. One Samaritan offered comfort to Alrashied.
“He was attentive to her,” said Bloch, of the man who knelt by the woman’s side and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Witnesses said the unwitting driver tried to move the bus while Alrashied was still pinned beneath it.
“The bus driver was trying to move the bus,” Bloch said. “People were yelling, ‘Stop moving the bus!’ ”
At that point, the driver, identified by sources as Rene Abrego, 61, ran out and tried to help, but was pushed away by a crowd that had formed around her.
“It took the tourists on the second [level] time to figure out what was going on,” said Bloch, a filmmaker.
“The tourists were all in shock. They didn’t even want to look. There was a mother who was shielding her daughter.”
“They got more than they bargained for.”
It wasn’t clear whether the driver initially knew he had even hit someone.
Firetrucks and ambulances rushed to the scene, and rescuers carefully removed Alrashied from under the bus.
Medics placed her on a backboard and secured her neck with a brace before whisking her to Bellevue Hospital, where she was treated for leg fractures and trauma.
She was listed in serious condition.
No summonses were issued. Records indicate Abrego has a clean driving record.
“Gray Line is fully cooperating with the police and they wish the woman a full recovery,” company spokeswoman Cristyne Nicholas said.
Additional reporting by Murray Weiss, Michelle Kaske, Tim Perone, Reuven Fenton and Jessica Simeone