Results tagged “liverycab”

The 30-year-old fake livery cab driver who raped one woman, and attempted to rape another last February, was sentenced to 15 years behind bars yesterday. Make that 15 years and 30 days. Torkieh Sadagheh reportedly cried upon hearing his sentence, but when that got him no sympathy, he went the outburst route — which got him an extra month in the slammer for contempt of court.

Unlicensed cab drivers are charging tourists $120 a pop for a ride from the airports to Manhattan, and Inside Edition is mad as hell about it. In one of their priceless hidden camera exposés, airing tonight at 6 p.m., the show's muckrakers put their lives on the line to show you what you hopefully already knew: shady individuals are preying on people at the airport.

After three recent murders of livery cab drivers in the Bronx and Yonkers, the NYPD has announced "Operation Safe Cab," to remind livery cab drivers that they can sign up for the Taxi/Livery Robbery Inspection Program and affix a decal on their cars—"These decals alert police on patrol that the vehicle is enrolled in the safety program and that the driver has authorized police to stop the car and check on the driver’s well being."

On Sunday night, a livery cab driver was killed in the Bronx. It turned out that Jose Peña-Segura's suspected killer was a man on parole for attempted murder: Benny Delgado, 31, who was caught while fleeing the scene, "has more than 20 arrests on his rap sheet" and was "released from prison in 2007 after serving 12 years on an attempted murder conviction," according to the Daily News. Now Delgado has allegedly confessed to the murder, saying that he and a friend named Jason called Peña-Segura to exact revenge—a Bronx prosecutor read Delgado's statement, "Jason was upset because Jose's associate took some pills from him but didn't pay. We weren't able to find Jose's associate, so I went after the next person. I told Jose to go to an address that I knew was fake. When we arrived, I shot him in the back of the head." And in the process of questioning, Delgado also admitted to shooting another man (a heroin dealer) in the Bronx, "[John Latigua] said he didn't give a f--- about us dope fiends. I then took out my gun and shot him in the chest."

As he sues the city to get his livery cab license back, Angel Bautista tells the Daily News that allegations he was masturbating during a 2008 cab ride are untrue. The News runs down the details: Apparently, a female fare—picked up in Brooklyn but ended up sitting in the front seat because Bautista picked up two other passengers from Queens—was suspicious enough to confront him, "You're not doing what I think you're doing," causing Bautista to reply, "Oh come on, I wouldn't do that. I can't be doing that. How can I do that and I'm driving a car?" He also explained his coat was in his lap "because it's winter time" and that he had tissues close by due to seasonal allergies. But by the time the female fare was taken to her Manhattan destination, she contacted the TLC and accused him of bad driving—"jerking" and "drifting off to the other side." Bautista suggested to the News that this was the result of absent-mindedness after a bathroom break, "I was in a big rush and I didn't realize my zipper was down," adding, "I want my license back." Still, according to the administrate law judge who revoked Bautista's license, four other drivers have been fired over similar behavior. Ugh.

An out-of-control livery cab careened into a street fair in Queens yesterday, injuring 13 people. According to WABC 7, "The car struck at least one food booth when it crashed into the street fair at Junction Boulevard and 37th Avenue about 1 p.m. Sunday."

Five French tourists got dragged on a crazy, high-speed chase after getting into an unlicensed livery van at JFK yesterday. The unwanted excitement started around 11 a.m. after Port Authority police spotted Ian McFarland, 57, hustling the newly-arrived French visitors from the Air France terminal to an unauthorized van. According to the Post, Officer Michael Bestany recognized McFarland as a "longtime steerer" of travelers to the illegal vans, and when Bestany reached into the vehicle to grab the keys, driver Khaalis Preacher floored it, knocking Bestany to the pavement, injuring his shoulder and knee. Captive tourist Gwen Dulugat, who injured her arm while trying to jump from the moving van, describes the high-speed chase that ensued: "It went very, very fast. We're going zoom, zoom, zoom. The police were fantastic. They were behind us all the time." Preacher led cops to East New York, where he finally crashed through the mechanical gate arm of a US Postal Service facility. The Post got great photos of the police, guns drawn, chasing down the two suspects and arresting them; the other tourists escaped with no injuries and an ultimate New York story.

Doctors are trying to reattach a Brooklyn man's leg after a terrible crash in Mill Basin last night. 1010 WINS reports that a livery "cab traveling on E57th Street south of Avenue L around 7:45 p.m. swerved to avoid a car pulling out from a driveway on the right side of the road and slammed into the man who was across the street putting his child in a car-seat." A neighbor told the Post, "I saw the cab swerve and the next thing you know his leg was down the street. He was on the ground totally quiet." Neighbors apparently helped by putting the leg on ice and the man was taken to Bellevue Hospital. The baby was slightly injured.

A livery cab driver who was thrust into the spotlight last year in a faked abandoned baby story is now wanted for allegedly raping a passenger in Astoria. The police are looking for Klever Sailema (pictured, center), who may be in hiding or may have even left the country.

A livery cab driver in the Bronx is dead after an accident that saw him lose control of the vehicle and crash into a minivan with three people inside it. 51-year-old Gregorio Primentel was speeding in his cab across Bruckner Boulevard in Mott Haven when he crossed over the median and hit the van, which carried two adults and one child. The six-year-old girl in the backseat is critical and the two adults in serious condition. Firefighters needed to cut off the roof of the van in order to get the people out. A witness told NY1, "When I reach into the car, the driver was in the back seat facing down, I try to speak to the guy, he was bleeding from his head...Then I went to the van and see three people in the minivan, a little child...she was in the back seat, thank God she was wearing a seat belt, she was in a car seat."

A 61-year-old livery cab driver was fatally shot while working in Coney Island. It's believed that Khadim Hussain Bhatti picked up a few passengers at 5 a.m. and one shot him in the stomach. According to the NY Times, Fernando Mateo, spokesman for the NY State Federation of Taxi Drivers, said that Bhatti worked for a car service, but "added that [Bhatti] worked in his off hours for lower fares not arranged through a dispatcher," which is what Bhatti was doing yesterday morning: "It was not a dispatched call, it was an independent hustle, which we don’t encourage, but that is the way these guys make a living." Bhatti, a Pakistani immigrant, had supported his family with his driving. Mateo also said that the number of livery cab killings had dropped off in recent years—the last he could remember was in 2006, “In the 1990s, through 2000, there were well over 250 murders of livery drivers. They averaged about 25 a year, or two a month."

Around 3 a.m. this morning, a 23-year-old driver in a Range Rover crashed into a livery cab in Astoria, Queens. WABC 7 reports, "Police say...the Ranger Rover t-boned the livery cab that was traveling on 34th street" and "the impact was so strong, the livery cab was sent 80 feet down the avenue." Two female passenger who were riding in the cab were killed. The SUV driver. who had been driving west on 31st Avenue, was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

Late last night, livery cab driver Winston Frank was killed in a hit-and-run that police believe was preceded by a robbery. Frank, apparently an unlicensed driver, had picked up a fare in Ozone Park. While driving, police think he argued with female passenger in the front seat--and the woman pushed him out of the car. Halfway out of the car by his seat belt, Frank was then struck by a passing car; a witness told the AP, "He was being dragged the whole time." The woman apparently drove off in Frank's car, which was found abandoned a few blocks away. WABC 7 reports a witness saw two men approach the car and then take "out with a black box." The police are looking for the woman and the driver of the passing car.

Early this morning in East Elmhurst, Queens, a livery cab driver was shot in the face. WCBS 2 reports "someone posing as a customer hopped into a livery cab and shot the driver in the cheek." The victim, Jose Santacruz, works part-time for the Tulcingo car company (his other part-time job is as a cook in Manhattan) and managed to make calls over the radio for help. A dispatcher told the Daily News he sent drivers to check out the situation, and by the time emergency services got there, they "found Santacruz lying on the ground and bleeding from the face." Santacruz is in stable condition; police hope surveillance footage from the cab will help them with the investigation.

Cops made quick work of the case of the murder of a livery cab driver, who was allegedly killed by two teens who have now been arrested. Early yesterday morning, police were searching for suspects after a fight broke out inside a livery cab that left its driver dead with multiple stab wounds to his chest and abdomen. After being stabbed, Geraldo Guttierez tried to make it to a hospital, but was too badly injured.

Mortally wounded, his car then careened into a utility pole outside 270 Saw Mill River Road, smashing up the vehicle. Gutierrez was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2 a.m., according to a hospital spokesman.

In the latest livery cab nightmare, a tipster points us to an incident that occurred on March 12th, when a woman used a car service to get home at night.

Last night [name redacted] took Metro Car service home. At our house the driver followed her to our door and groped/molested her. She fought him off and he left. I called Metro Line to let them know what happened and try get a name of the driver. They denied everything, basically told me to f*ck off and make a police report, and hung up on me.

Continue reading "Possibly Fake Livery Cab Driver Attacks in Brooklyn"

The father who wanted to give up his 6-month-old baby out of desperation has told the police he wants to surrender. Carlos Rodas, 27, was overwhelmed when his 14-year-old girlfriend and the mother of the baby left him to care for their daughter, so he, his sister, and her boyfriend, a livery cab driver, worked out a plan for the driver to leave the baby at a Queens fire house.

After the city was moved by the story of a baby abandoned in the backseat of a livery cab and how the driver dropped off the baby at a fire house, prompting the police and media to look for the baby's relatives, it turns out the livery cab driver was involved in the abandonment scheme. Driver Klever Sailema was arrested today, as were another man and woman. Oh, no.

A 6-7 month old baby girl, strapped in a car seat, was left in the backseat of a livery cab this morning. Tel-A-Car driver Klever Sailema picked up a man and the baby around 9:45AM this morning at 106th Street and Northern Boulevard in Queens. When the cab got to 83rd and Northern, the man said he needed to make a call and left the car. Only he crossed "the street to a pay phone and fled."

The man who attacked two women this weekend after picking them up under the guise of being a legit livery cab driver has been arrested. One of Torkieh Sadagheh's victims, Monica Maneiro of Morningside Heights, hailed his car after getting off work at Scores strip club on Saturday night; the 23-year-old recounts what happened next:

"Out of nowhere he just stopped the cab and jumped in the back seat. He grabbed me and had his hand over my face. When he was trying to restrain me I was just trying to calm him down. I didn't really fight back too much because if I would have he probably would have gotten more upset. So what I did was I was just trying to calm him down. I was trying to open the door at the same time without him seeing."

Late last year a cabbie (or rather, fake livery cab driver) had been targeting young women outside of The Box on Chrystie Street. After two reported rapes, those heading to and from the club were on guard. Finally, now a suspect has been caught and confessed...and the ladies of New York have a Scores stripper to thank for it.