Two pedestrians were seriously injured yesterday after a taxi sideswiped a sport utility vehicle, forcing it onto the sidewalk on North Nimitz Highway near Kekaulike Street.

The pedestrians, both men in their 40s or 50s, were taken to The Queen's Medical Center, one in serious condition and the other in guarded condition, said Emergency Medical Services District Chief Wayne Kruse. The 19-year-old driver of the SUV was OK, but emotionally shaken, he said.

Stephen Bedford witnessed the accident and said he could see one man pinned under the SUV and ran over to help.

"I kept yelling, 'Are you OK? Are you OK?' " said Bedford.

Someone yelled "there's another one," and Bedford was horrified to find the second man pinned between the SUV and the wall of a building.

"First, I remember thinking, 'Oh, my God, he's dead,' " Bedford said. But he tried to talk to the man and found he was responsive.

"I kept yelling, 'He's still alive, he's still alive,' " Bedford said.

The accident occurred just before the intersection of Kekaulike and Nimitz, a busy area of pedestrian traffic in and out of Chinatown.

Police said both pedestrians were attempting to hail the cab when it switched into the SUV's lane. The taxi sideswiped the SUV, forcing it to jump the curb and hit the pedestrians and a fire hydrant. Police said the SUV was speeding.

"It all happened so fast," said Bedford, 35, a Makakilo resident who was shopping in Chinatown at the time.

Streams of water gushed high into the air as he tried to help the man pinned under the SUV.

"I was scared he was going to drown or choke or something," Bedford said, so he tried to shield the man from the streams of water. Someone brought over a blue tarp that Bedford used to cover the man to keep him dry until EMS workers arrived.

Both men were taken by ambulance to Queen's. According to police, the man pinned against the wall had a fractured hip. The man pinned under the SUV had been in critical condition.

The driver of the SUV remained at the scene. He clutched a white blanket given to him by EMS, and cried as he sat in the doorway of a fishing supply shop. A few relatives who arrived on the scene tried to console him. He refused to be interviewed.

The accident forced the temporary closure of three westbound lanes of North Nimitz Highway around 1 p.m. yesterday. One lane remained open for through traffic. All lanes of Nimitz Highway were reopened by 4 p.m.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.