An administrative law judge ruled on Friday that cab driver Mohamed Zakout should lose his hack license for allegedly flashing, grabbing, and making lewd comments to a female passenger. The incident occurred when a local bartender who now resides in California caught a ride with Zakout home to Brooklyn from the bar Cubbyhole in the West Village around 3 a.m. back in December.
The gross encounter began, according to the Daily News, after Zakout offered to share a joint with the victim, she agreed, and she climbed in the front seat to facilitate passing it. As they approached the Williamsburg Bridge, she says she noticed Zakout fondling himself through his sweatpants.
"I sat in car while he jacked him self off whole car ride, while he kept trying to grab and rub my head and shoulders..." she wrote on Facebook afterwards. "I am beyond thankful I was able to keep physically grabbing his hand off my body..."
Zakout's victim gave him a fake address so he wouldn't know where she lived, and as they arrived, she says he pulled out his penis and told her that she "excited him," then tried to hug her.
When the woman tried to report the incident to police, she says officers told her it was a "gray area" because Zakout never forced her to touch his penis. Zakout denied the allegations in court and to the News. His lawyer argued that she misidentified him as Lebanese when he's actually Egyptian, and he told the Taxi and Limousine Commission that he "pissed off" the victim by telling her gay people are jailed in his country.
City law judge Faye Lewis found her to be credible, though, citing the Facebook post she wrote about the encounter immediately afterwards, and GPS records that showed Zakout circled the block before dropping her off, as she described to investigators.
Zakout has been driving a yellow cab for 15 years. TLC Commissioner Meera Joshi will decide whether or not to strip Zakout of his license.
