Taxicab is a wreck after crashing into SUV in Tribeca Sunday, allegedly after it was stolen by passenger.
A New York cab driver was in for a surprise when a passenger hijacked his taxi for an hour-long joyride through the city that ended in a terrifying airborne crash.
The dramatic story began at 7:45am when the cab driver picked up a passenger at the corner of Essex and Grand Streets. After a three block drive, the 44-year old passenger said he wanted to get out of the cab.
When the suspect exited the cab, he lied to the driver and told him he had a flat tire.
As the cab driver got out of his vehicle to check the tires, the con artist jumped into the drivers seat and sped off with the taxi.
The cab driver tried to utilize his GPS system to locate his missing cab, but was unsuccessful.
The joyride came to an end around 8:30am when the thief slammed into a white Lexus SUV on the other side of town near West and Chambers Streets.
The luxury SUV went airborne from the impact and was left lying on its side atop an elevated median. The collision was so violent, it could have been deadly.
“It was pretty loud – you could’ve heard it three, four blocks away. It was very loud. It startled me,” said eyewitness Karlin Chan.
Two men, both 37, inside the luxury SUV were injured and were taken to the hospital and treated for injuries.
The driver of the hijacked taxicab was also injured and was in police custody.
By Stephanie
YellowCabNYCTaxi.com Staff Writer
The man who stole the yellow cab seen handcuffed inside an ambulance
You may also like
NY House Dems call on city to bail out thousands of cab drivers suffering because of taxi medallion ‘crisis’
Yellow Cabs Get New Gadgets
NYC Taxicab Drivers no longer required to take english test
NYC Taxi Drivers Demand Right to Lock Doors After Passenger’s Murder
A Judge Blocked the Taxi King’s Abandonment of Citibank Cabs
NYC criticizing AirBnB for ILLEGAL operation. When will NYC criticize criminal Uber ??
I have 3 messages for someone to call me back because I accidentally paid $96 tips for $7 cab ride on June 25. Can someone contact me please?
Calvin
Try calling your credit card or the taxi commission
If you dont get the 96$ the garage taxi not the driver will swallow it.
Cease and Desist Order for Uber in NYC is coming? E-hail is a hail. There is no denying it.
Nice thought but it ain’t gonna happen. Only ceasing will be yellows getting foreclosed. It should happen but pandoras box is open.
taxi should put a fair increase soon in effect..15% faire increase..
Medallion system must go and put to rest for good ..You can’t auction me while driving your taxi day and night..you drive it you own it ..some people own more and they go home sleep paying nothing to drivers ..the problem is that most owners gets loans from banks under tables and put drivers to work 20 hours a day.
Uber’s commission is 30-40%. That’s enough to pay for any medallion. Don’t blame the system – it works. Blame Uber for robbing everyone.
Good point
NY POST says 1600 medallions on shelf.
France Proposes EU100m/Yr Fund to Buy Back Taxi Medallions.
Peter, That’s 1600 medallions that were authorized to be sold. The medallions never existed and the sales were postponed. The NY Post is full of it.
They also said that the Street hail question was turned down by the federal court when no decision has yet be made.
Illinois judge ruled (not said – she ruled) that e-hail is a hail, and street e-hail is a street hail. I don’t see that mentioned either. Allan Fromberg needs to get up to speed – Uber is breaking laws here in NYC – whether he personally likes it or not – his interpretation is erroneous and disconnected from reality.
That’s good news Anon but there’s still a lot of medallions on the shelf.
There are tons of medallion on the shelf due to tons of illegal pickups at airport, streets and etc… I know because I’ve seen it when I landed at JFK airport and crossing the street to pickup my own vehicle parked at long term parking lot. Currently that is killing of the cab industry with companies like Uber, Lyft and etc… trying to go around the system so they don’t need to pay all those fees, tax and follow the same system we need to use (Verifone and CMT).
Also, tons of driver’s do not realize that uber and lyft is just a company that’s finding a way to get paid from you without even lifting a finger. Without the driver’s they are nothing but a system that copied from an old cabbie app.
I have had 3 accidents since Sept. That’s more than I had the last 20 years. I got a dash camera so I hire a lawyer and get 100% of the blame assigned to the other driver and the $ at small claims. Too many new inexperienced “cabbies” on the road.
But according to the DOT and TLC there isn’t a traffic problem.
TLC. Has voted on limiting the number of hours a drive should not exceed .12 hours a shift is set to be the maximum..my question ,why tlc treats drivers equally? Tlc must put restrictions on some drivers depending on driving record..My dream is dead now..does the12 hours include break time .What if I worked 3 hours in the moorning and 9 hours the evening.Tlc now got the power to punish drivers and treat them like UN soldiers.Ubers will burn out .because now the must work night and overnight and early moorning just to make 100$.new york city is junk full of immigrants with no hope or plan ..get lost to other state..NYC IS unhappy city.
Don’t drive any garbage for less than 15.75$ an hour fixed rate and 35% commission on gross income. With any company out there…don’t be stupif.there is an equation for this ..let them be in charge of finding passengers .you just drive but you have a future waiting for you too.one bed room now is 1800$ a month and healthcare insurance is 450$ a month .plus car payment lease and expense comes at 1200$ a week .an other 24% income tax.
So 7050$ is driver expense a month in nyc .do not work for free .make sure to include all expense .your appartment rent same as your car lease.your are self-eemployed you charge your company all expense.or go find an other job period.
Taxi income is wet
Mercedes-Daimler backs licensed Taxis over uber. The really wise guys are getting it.
So Bratton Had Enough Huh…..Hope New Police Comm. Enforces Rules On UBER…..When is TLC Comm. Leaving….???
Uber always been great! Drivers still making lots of money.
Use the car for family & save from having own car.
Make as much as yellow cab drivers.
Work your own hour work in rush hours.
Work less hours make more.
Don’t drive yellow and make green. This is non-sense ad.
Tranquility & peace no shift change, no partner, no garage, all own by myself.
Only people who are not qualified for driving Uber can drive yellow cab.
Yellow Cab you pay for car $48000 over three years period.
Uber you buy your car and pay it off in 2 years or less. Applying same calculation weekly $275.