Latest news with #NewYorkStateFederationofTaxiDrivers
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Yahoo
Pepper-spray spritzing teens wanted for robbing taxis, livery cabs
A crew of teenage thieves armed with pepper spray have turned robbing city taxi and livery drivers into a cottage industry — and are responsible for about 20 heists across the five boroughs, taxi advocates said Thursday. At least one of the young suspects who have been robbing cabbies since January was arrested, but then released from court without bail, angering taxi advocates, who are demanding prosecutors take a stronger stance against these teen terrors. 'They're targeting yellows, they're targeting liveries, they're targeting whatever they can get,' New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers spokesman Fernando Mateo said at a press conference in the Bronx Thursday. 'Why do they continue to do it? Because the judges are letting them go, because the district attorney sometimes doesn't demand bail, because no one has physically been injured other than being pepper sprayed.' Since Jan. 21, the cab-robbing crew, consisting of girls and one boy, all between 17 and 19 years old, have committed at least 19 robberies against taxi and livery drivers, police said. Typically, at least one member of the team hails a ride. Then, once they get inside, they say they have to pick up a friend, cops said. Once the friend is picked up, they pepper spray the cab driver and make off with the hack's cash, cellphone and wallet, cops said. The robberies have taken place in Midtown, Harlem and Queens, Federation members and police said. The most violent surge occurred between April 25 and May 4, when the teens committed seven pepper-spray robberies against cabbies in just three days, they said. Livery driver Juan Grullon, 32, was one of the crew's victims. He picked up the thieves in his Tesla in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx and was asked to drop them off on the Upper East Side at Madison Ave. and E. 77th St., he recounted. But, just before the drop-off, they suddenly changed their destination. 'They told me, like, 'Oh, take this left here,'' he recalled. 'I feel like, 'Oh, this is a little bit weird.'' Right after the suspects had feigned to decide who was going to pay Grullon, one of them stepped out of the cab, opened the driver's door and doused him with pepper spray. 'He pepper sprayed all the way in my hair and everything, my clothes and everything,' Grullon recalled. '[It was] like itchy, and everywhere. I have asthma, too. So it was very difficult to breathe. My eyes were burning.' With Grullon disoriented, the car accelerated ahead. All the while, the brazen thieves rifled through his glove box and pockets, looking for valuables. 'I moved the car, like, a little bit. I was scared to hit the cars because my eyes [were] closed. I could hit somebody or something,' he remembered worrying. 'They take my wallet and everything, and I accelerate again. And they get out [of] the car and run away with all my stuff.' The teens then used Grullon's credit cards to buy tacos and pizza and on a quick shopping trip to Duane Reade, the victim was told. 'It's so scary,' he said. 'I'm scared now even to work. You don't know if they have a knife or something. You don't know, because you are with your eyes closed, so you don't know what's happening around you. You just now feel somebody touching you and reaching [into] your pocket.' The kids who robbed Grullon were possibly LGBTQ and seemed to be 'just very nice people,' until they pounced, Mateo said. 'Once they're in there, they become criminals,' he said. There may well be even more cab drivers who have been targeted as part of the larger pattern. 'These kids did it to over 20 drivers that were reported,' Mateo said. 'I'm sure that they probably did it to many more that didn't report it because they don't want to waste any time off the road.' At least one of the suspects believed involved has been arrested twice for these robberies and was released without bail, probably due to being a teenager, Mateo said. 'We're asking our legislators, 'Guys, if you see that these people, whether they're kids or not, if they're committing adult crimes, you've got to punish them accordingly,'' he said. Anyone with information about this robbery crew is asked to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
CBS News
24-03-2025
- CBS News
Brooklyn livery cab driver survives near-death experience after passenger tried to rob him
A livery cab driver suffered a terrifying brush with death early Monday morning, as he was shot in the face during an argument with a passenger in Brooklyn. Police say the man got out of the cab, opened fire, and then tried to rob him. Incredibly, the victim managed get away and drive himself to the hospital. He is expected to be okay, but the suspect remains on the loose. Prince Ezenekwe walked into a room full of cameras with a bloody bandage on his right cheek, concealing a row of stitches that represented the aftermath of him staring down the barrel of a gun. "My case of survival, I take it as a miracle," Ezenekwe said. "I ain't supposed to be speaking to you right now. I ain't supposed to be alive." Police say at around 1:30 a.m. Ezenekwe picked up a masked rider in Canarsie. Not long after, the rider asked him to turn around, claiming he forgot something. Little did Ezenekwe know, it was a setup, an armed robbery attempt in the making. After a short argument about turning back, the rider erupted. "Unfortunately, the guy got upset, got out of the car, pulled out a gun, and told him that he was going to rob him and kill him," said Fernando Mateo, president of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers. "Now, when he steps out of the car he says, 'I will have to kill you and took everything that you have,'" Ezenekwe said. "What I saw was the gun pointing straight at my head, at point blank." A quick slam on the gas and a tilt of the head is what saved Ezenekwe's life, as the bullet missed a major artery by an inch and only grazed his cheek. The Nigerian-American husband and father of three called the ordeal terrifying, while the masked man who pulled the trigger remains on the run. The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers is offer a $5,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest. "Unfortunately, it tear my skin and all of this was stitched. But like I said, I'm the luckiest man alive. I'm the luckiest man alive, so, like I said, I can't complain," Ezenekwe said. Anyone with any information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) , or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782 ). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips . All calls are kept confidential.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Yahoo
Rideshare drivers call for more security against ‘tap and snatch' robberies
MOTT HAVEN, The Bronx (PIX11) — Rideshare drivers on Monday called for more protection from so-called tap and snatch robberies, where people pose as customers for services like Uber and Lyft, and then access drivers' phones, which they drain thousands of dollars. At least 22 such robberies have happened citywide in the last eight weeks, with robbers stealing anywhere from $1,300 to $10,000 in each incident. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers on Monday formally called for greater security measures. Fernando Mateo, the official spokesperson for the state federation, said that the way the tap and snatch robberies take place can be simple, and costly. A person posing as a passenger will get into the rideshare, and then come with a ruse. They'll say, ''Oh, I changed my mind. I want to go to, um, Smithsonian, whatever address, but let me put it in your phone,'' Mateo said. Then, once the robber has the phone, he continued, 'Then they put a gun to your head and say, 'Give me the password, give me your account number.'' It's access to the driver's rideshare account. The taxi federation contends that if rideshare companies give drivers separate phones for business use only, the drivers can keep their personal phones, including their bank accounts, private. Robbery pattern targets Uber and Lyft drivers in NYC For its part, Uber, for which most of the robberies have occurred, would not say that it would provide separate phones for drivers. It did say, however, in a statement: 'These reports are extremely alarming. Driver safety is paramount to the Uber experience, and we're constantly investing in new safety features, like our rider verification program, and Record My Ride, to help make the platform safer and build trust. We encourage all drivers to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement, and to us, and cancel a trip if they ever feel unsafe. We're in touch with the NYPD on these terrible incidents, and will continue to support their investigation however we can to help bring those responsible to justice.' Meanwhile, the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers is offering a $2,000 reward for anyone with information leading to an arrest of the tap and snatch robbery suspects. The federation is also calling for federal law enforcement involvement since the robberies apparently involve bank fraud. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
