'I need a more suitable job': New York taxi driver who severed British tourist's leg admits road rage and says he shouldn't be driving a cab

Mohammed Faysal Himon said he needed a 'more suitable job', adding 'there’s too much stress when you’re driving in the city'

A New York taxi driver, who hit a curb, mounted a pavement and crushed a young British tourist, has admitted he was involved in a road rage incident just moments before the crash and should not be driving a taxi.

Mohammed Faysal Himon, 24, told the New York Post that he needed a "more suitable job", adding "there’s too much stress when you’re driving in the city.”

Himon, who was not authorized to drive the cab that hit Sian Green, 23, told the newspaper that he had an altercation with a cyclist just moments before he lost control of his taxi and ploughed into the British tourist.

Mr Himon said the incident happened after he became "upset" with a cyclist when trying to make a left turn across the lane used by cyclists.

“He was in my way and I got upset, so I gave him notice that I wanted to pass through,” he said.

“He started pounding on my car with his hands and was yelling things at me. I suddenly felt like I had to get out of there. It was becoming a bad situation. So I accelerated to get in front of him,” he added.

Mr Himon told the Post that at that point "everything becomes cloudy”. In the immediate aftermath of the accident Mr Himon said the sight of the severed left foot "was so disturbing".

"I was afraid I was going to lose all my senses. When I saw her leg, I froze. I couldn’t walk or talk,” he added.

Ms Green, 23, a trainee fashion buyer, is now recovering in hospital after surgeons amputated her left leg below the knee.

Her boyfriend's father today said she was "determined to not let this ruin her life.”

Kenneth Olivo, 40, the bicycle messenger who was involved in the road rage incident said: "I told him [Himon] to calm down, he gets angry, he honks his horn and he accelerates and that’s it — I’m on the hood of his car, the woman is under his car. It was like a damn movie.”

Despite admitting to experiencing road rage, Mr Himon refused to take responsibility for the incident, telling local media, “I personally feel that if that man on the bike didn’t bang on my car, maybe this would not have happened.”

Police have said they are now investigating the circumstances of the crash.