Cabbies Demand New Laws To Protect From Assault
by PETER THORNE | wpix.com

7:21 p.m. EDT, April 11, 2010
NEW YORK (WPIX)—
Taxi drivers want new laws to protect them from dangerous assaults.

Drivers came out in support of a proposed "taxi drivers protection" law Sunday, which would make assaults on cabbies a felony, even if the driver suffers only minor injuries.

The move comes after a violent attack this past March on New York City taxi driver, Mohammad Chowdhury. He was on the way to the Bronx when two female passengers slit his throat after he asked one of them to stop urinating in the backseat.

According to the NYPD, 89 cab drivers have been assaulted in the city so far this year.



"Two years ago, driver Enois Malbranche was blinded in the right eye after being shot point blank during morning rush hour. Less than a year prior, driver Mohammed Elwaleed was mowed down by a private motorist following a routine fender bender," said the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA).

The organization points out that "both Illinois and California prosecute assaults on drivers as felonies." States such as Pennsylvania also require signs in taxis warning against crimes against the driver.

In a news release, NYTWA Executive Director Bhairavi Desai said "we've stood with too many members who've been stabbed, choked, permanently injured, beaten by groups of people and with heavy weapons. It is simply unacceptable for a workforce of over 40,000 to not know if they will come home in a body bag or a cast all for serving the public for 12-hour shifts."