Feline-friendly GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa — who once survived a botched alleged mob takedown — was hit by a cab Friday, breaking his left arm, but still proceeded on his way to a radio show before going for treatment at Lenox Hill Hospital, the pol and his wife said.
“As I was running here to fulfill the hour that I had purchased for this expose on Eric Adams, I was hit by the cab driver, thrust about 6 feet in the air right outside Rockefeller Center, where the Rockettes perform,” Sliwa said on WABC radio Friday afternoon during a paid spot he’d taken out on a show to go after his opponent, Democrat Eric Adams.
“I have a feeling this cab driver and others thought that I was dead,” Sliwa said about 45 minutes after the run-in.
“I flew in the air about 6 feet, scurried up and started running in order to get here in time. I just want to relieve that cab driver because I’m sure that cab driver thought that he had killed me. … I was trying to beat the light and get to the other side before the changeover,” Sliwa continued.
His wife, Nancy Sliwa, later issued a statement saying, “Curtis has been diagnosed with a fractured left arm, which requires a sling.
“In addition, he has swelling on his left knee, which will require an ace bandage wrap. There is no internal bleeding.”
The candidate quipped on Twitter after the accident, “Don’t worry, everyone. The taxi is okay.”
Don’t worry, everyone. The taxi is okay.
— Curtis Sliwa for NYC Mayor (@CurtisSliwa) October 29, 2021
Rob Cole, Sliwa’s senior campaign adviser, told The Post that “adrenaline” got the red beret-wearing vigilante through the radio hour but that he started swelling up and having trouble moving afterward.
Cole was with Sliwa at the emergency room, where the Guardian Angel founder was getting X-rays.
“He ripped his pants pretty badly. He’s scraped up his knees and arms,” Cole noted.
Cole said Sliwa, 67, was exiting a campaign van when he stepped into traffic on West 50th Street and got hit by the cab.
“No police report was filed because if five bullets didn’t kill him, a yellow cab’s not going to get him,” Cole said, referring to the botched mob hit against Sliwa in 1992 that was thought to be orchestrated by the Gambino family’s John Gotti.
This is an excerpt from the New York Post.
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