NEW YORK (WPIX)—
A taxi driver attacked on Halloween, called Sunday for tougher laws to punish people who assault cabbies.Ndiaye Serigne, 48, was joined by New York Taxi Workers Alliance members, who want the state legislature to make attacking cab drivers a felony; it's already a felony to attack on-duty transit workers and traffic agents.
"Assaulting a taxi driver should be a felony, same as assaulting a bus driver, or subway worker, because we are also in the public and a worker like them," said Serigne.
Authorities say four men wearing Super Mario Brothers masks attacked Serigne on Staten Island around 4 a.m. on Halloween. Investigators think the suspects planned on robbing the cabbie, when they allegedly told him to pull down a narrow street. But Serigne turned into a gas station instead, screaming for help. Surveillance video shows him being pushed, punched and repeatedly kicked as the men surrounded his yellow medallion.
"The public has no fear to do anything against us. They think we are alone," said Zawar Jaffri, who lost an eye, after he was maced by a passenger trying to skip fare. "At least if we had a sticker saying a crime against the driver is a felony up to seven years in jail, right next to the passenger bill of rights, they would know that the driver is also equal human being."
The Department of Labor has classified driving a taxi as one of the most dangerous jobs in the country, with cabbies being 60 times more likely to be killed on the job.
