A cursing cabby flung open the back door of his cab in Midtown and lunged at two young female passengers in a desperate bid to avoid taking them to Bedford-Stuyvesant, a disturbing video shows.
“Oh, my God!” one of the women screams. “Do not touch us! Do not f – – king touch us!”
“You, you have to take us to Brooklyn!”
The irate driver then scampered out the back seat, wildly flailed his arms, and desperately begged other cabs to take his fares off his hands.
“He just went crazy. It was really pretty scary,” said a passenger named Michelle, 31, who hailed the taxi with her pal, Amy, also 31, on Sixth Avenue and 44th Street around 2 p.m. Sunday.
TLC records show that Paul Efobi was the driver of record at the time of the incident. Efobi and another man named Mamadou Sene are both listed in TLC documents as drivers who regularly lease the cab involved in the incident.
“We have the 311 complaint for this unfortunate incident and will investigate it thoroughly and take the appropriate actions,” TLC chief David Yassky told The Post.
City officials recently said they want to increase the fines for drivers who refuse to take people to the outer boroughs.
The passengers — who asked that their last names not be used because they fear the driver — said the hack began yelling, “No. No. No!” the minute they asked to be taken across the East River after they hailed the cab near the Algonquin Hotel on West 44th Street.
“I kept saying, ‘You have to. It’s the law,’ ” recounted Michelle, who works for an Internet company. “He kept screaming at us to ‘get out, get out,’ but we wouldn’t.”
“Then he said, ‘You’re gonna be sorry!’ and took off up Sixth Avenue,” she added.
“He was driving erratically, doing the ‘gas-and-brake’ thing, going in and out of lanes,” said Amy, an editor. “He was swearing, calling us ‘bitches.’ He was very angry.”
The driver then turned onto 48th Street, the women said, and pulled over. He got out, popped his hood and tried to lure them out of the cab, telling them the cab was “broken,” they said.
When his passengers didn’t fall for it, he got back behind the wheel, drove another few feet and stopped again.
He flung open the back door and then lunged when he saw he was being videotaped on a cellphone.
After the hack backed off, he approached “four or five” other cabs to take the women to Bed-Stuy, and finally found one. They gave that driver $35 for a $25 fare.
The Queens company Efobi drives for said it wasn’t aware of the incident.
Additional reporting by Hannah Rappeleye and Ikimulisa Livingston
jeane.macintosh@nypost.com
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Driving Yellow Cab in New York City
I can name many cab drivers as the most dangerous predators in NY without hesitation. However, in this case, I believe the story they are telling is not true.
Lets say a cab driver doing his best to kick you out of his cab, why did you only record the final scene? Who knows what they were doing in the cab.
The driver screwed up badly here. He let his anger get the best of him. That said, these women are partly to blame here. They should have gotten out of his cab when he asked them to. They were trespassing.
that kind of passengers are killing our business.stay in blyn
I know it is not what it looks like. TLC take blind action so some people are crazy to make up some crazy thing to establish that YOU R A C A B driver , you have no RIGHT in the city thue even animal have rights in the city.
The TLC is to blame. They keep giving licenses to these people. This moron shouldnt even be in this country let alone drive a cab in this great city. Take away his license for good. Would he be allowed to be a fireman? police? hack inspector? Of course not. But drive a taxi in this great city…sure drive away.
Those ladies think the cab driver is a slave. Why just get out and report the driver for reffuse, that is what educated people will do. of course the driver made a mistake touched that bitch.
That is the risk of this bussines take someone to brooklyn. east new york, fort green and all that shit the gethos in brooklyn. fuckkk brooklyn.
IF YOU SEE THE VIDEO, THESE PASSENGERS ARE DEFINITELY TRAPPING THE POOR DRIVER. WE HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT WHAT THEY DID IN THE CAR AND SAID TO THE DRIVER TO DRIVE HIM CRAZY. PASSENGERS ARE ALWAYS LAUGHING AND MAKING FUN OF THE DRIVER IN THIS INCIDENT, SO DISGUSTING…
IF its true obviously this jerk should be unlicensed, criminally prosecuted and deported. But without prejudging it, I think this crap of refusals is disgusting and I drove p-t nites for 25 yearsl If these jerks knew how to do their job they would know outer boro trips are PROFITABLE – usually good tips and big fares. Moreover, I would get a local either staying in the outer boro or coming into Manh. about 25% of the time…any driver with more than 9 months experience ought to know how..if you don’t you’re a moron which is my description of about 75% of my former fellow drivers including the boobs who sit outside of GCT after it is CLOSED for the night with no more trains.
I am a cab driver and i dont want to go to brooklyn … no matter what the damn law says … the rent for the cab is $130.00 and you tip the dispatchers about $10.00 and there is $50 gas plus MTA and dont forget about credit card taxes…I have to take care of my family and put bread and butter on the table… we work our ass off; risking our life; dont forget about the traffic; and the customers are insane; they think we are not human , they think we are their slave. talking about the law why are the black cars picking up passenger from the street? and what about the hotel’s doorman; we have to tip them everytime for airport passenger. about traffic tickets, we work 12 hrs a day driving and when we make a single mistake there is damn cop pulling u over. NO benefits, no over time, no unemployment if u get sick. the garage will charge u even though the taxi broke in the midddle of the shift. we should go on strike sometime; then TLC will understand and the customers will understand when we show our problem. There are lots of downside in this job so i keep my door locked and ask passenger where they are going before getting in the car and if i think it benefits me i will take them and if they are in the car already; i will take them anyway .
NY post employees ……. write a report on crime and incidents that how a yellow cab driver get robbed and killed taking the passengers out of Manhattan… instead this crap … you will get more business
Were you chosen as a holy cab driver by God?
I don’t understand you guys. Instead of being a whipping boy and paddling against the current, just find another God damn job!
You’re not bigger than these guys. You can’t change anything.
If you say “no matter what the damn law says” very same damn law will whack your ass, indeed.
its the guys like you who wanna get whipped; TLC , customers, cops, robbers black cars and others keep f_________ guys like you and we get included. We should do something about it instead of finding another job cos i know 90% of cabbies aint gonna get hired for good job. All cabbies should know that they can create an union and fight against injustice.
I think the cab driver was correct. f*#k that brooklyn shit.
Drivers, we must treat our riders with respect! They are supporting us, doesn’t matter where they need to go, whether is Brooklyn, Queens or Bronx. The right altitude is everything!
Meter Peter where ever this creepy guy is from he is the bacteria creating hatred in united states of America because America is made by hard labour of immigrants, and asshole guy like meter Peter is insulting all human being
Nyc cab driver’s never refuses passenger’s while on duty big proof, cabi pick two passenger’s from laguardia(NY) to Losangelles(CA)
After watched the video it seems like those 2 ladys really enjoys it, they probably did something that made the Driver went crazy.
All you guys that dont like to go out the city are the same stupid idioits that only like to work midtown. while you guys are fighting eachother in midtown im in downtown making money. fuckin idoits
I spoke to the driver and he said that those two women were having lesbian sex in the back. There is a NYC health code so he told them not to. They only used the brooklyn excuse because he caught them having immoral sex.
I am a cab driver as well… and I always pick up and tell the passenger who got refused from the cabbie who dont want to go to Brooklyn…..get hack and medalion number and REPORT THEM to TLC
jackie you are a frog
jackie you are a frog
They just record only that part which was against the cab driver.This is just a bullshit or i must say its so creepy to record such stupid things when a poor guy is trying to make his living and these idiots try to play with that by making such recordings.