Sadly, cabbies don't always want to go where you want to go. That means (though it is illegal) sometimes they'll simply refuse to take you, sometimes they'll run you over in anger and sometimes, as you can see below, they will rip you out of the cab's backseat and hurl you into the street. Twice. Thank goodness for security cameras:
So what are you looking at? That is 20-year taxi veteran Sidikiba Diallo not only refusing to take Glenn Yonemitsu from Ichi Umi in K-Town to Queens last April but getting downright physical with the intoxicated fare. For a play-by-play, let's turn to administrative law judge Tynia Richard:
"Mr. Yonemitsu is expelled from the rear seat onto the street and respondent (Diallo) tumbles out after him," Richard recounted. "As Mr. Yonemitsu scrambles from the street, respondent tries to slam the door to prevent him from getting back into the cab. The two men are in the street struggling over the door as (a) pedestrian approaches and tries to stop them..."
After Yonemitsu makes it back in, Diallo "in a single motion hurls Mr. Yonemitsu to the ground several feet across the street," she added.
The first toss starts just after the 1:30 mark. In the end the cab goes zooming down the street, with both rear doors open and Yonemitsu inside! (The second toss happens at about the 2 minute mark.) Eventually the inebriated passenger exited the Clash Cab when the driver told him they were going to a police station.
Whatever it was that sparked the incident (and that is under dispute) Diallo is in big trouble for his part in it. Judge Richard ruled yesterday that he would lose his license to drive a cab because of the stunt—if the passenger is unruly drivers are supposed to call for help, not take matters into their own hands.
Meanwhile, our favorite part of the video isn't even the fight (though that second toss into traffic is pretty spectacular!). No, it is the hard-working woman cleaning the street who not only keeps trying to keep a passerby from getting into the fight but calmly goes back to work sweeping once the whole thing is over. Now that is a real New Yorker.
