Another livery cab driver has been shot after a male and a female passenger began arguing in the backseat. According to the Post, the two passengers entered the cab in Midwood early Christmas morning, and soon began to fight. The cab driver pulled over after the male passenger, suspect Shiekh Hoque, pulled a 9mm gun, and somehow the gun discharged. It's unclear whether the passenger meant to shoot the driver or whether it went off by accident, but the bullet went through the back of the seat and hit the driver in the back. We guess he wasn't one of the 12 livery drivers equipped with a bulletproof vest.
The female passenger fled the cab, and the driver managed to escape as Hoque made off with the livery cab. The driver called police from a pay phone at Coney Island Avenue and Avenue T. Hoque was quickly found and arrested, and faces charges of assault in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment, and grand larceny auto. The driver was treated at Lutheran Medical Center and released this morning. A few weeks ago, New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers head Fernando Mateo advocated the racial profiling of passengers for drivers' safety, and it's unclear whether the driver employed these tactics before picking up these passengers.
