Taxi Driver Beat Up Over Bronx Destination

Two guys beat up a taxi driver early Monday morning because he was being honest: The driver told the men he didn't know how to get to their Bronx location. Gilbert Ruiz opened up the front passenger door and "slugged the cabby in the mouth" and then threw the cabby's bag on the street. When driver Frederick Dsouza went to get his bag, Christopher Lopez "pounded him to the ground," and then Lopez and Ruiz both beat and kicked him.

The police arrested the two. While the NYC Taxi Rider Bill of Rights says that riders are entitled to "Direct the destination and route used" and "Travel to any destination in the five boroughs of the City of New York," deciding to beat up a driver who says he doesn't know how to get there is certainly extreme.

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By Jen Chung in News on January 30, 2007 8:18 AM

Comments [rss]

gilbert ruiz

listen what isnt told in the article is why the taxi driver decided to not only curse me out during the argument but not just drive away when i repeatedly told him to just leave and i dont want to hear that "poverty breeds violence"

bull*** because i grew up on fifth avenue in an apartment overlooking central park and i have never been arrested in my life and never been in a fight unless i was protecting myself so get all the facts before u judge someone

name

#3...what is this, a game of "I know you are but what am I?"

name

is that why my poverty-stricken midwestern home town was so safe? put entitlement and hate-breeding leaders into your violence equation.

name

more classist / elitist than racist. poverty breeds violence as a solution to problems? discuss.

Name

But, of course, if the driver had simply refused to go to the Bronx for fear of violence, he'd be a racist.

Not necessarily, but your statement appears to indicate that you are.