NEW YORK: Taxi drivers of New York are mourning the passing of their colleague Mir Hossain, 35, killed when a speeding SUV struck his car while he was standing outside. An immigrant from Bangladesh, Hossain leaves behind three siblings across the world. Mir Hossain was also the roommate of taxi driver Sajjad Matin whose leg was amputated after he was hit from behind by a drunk driver while loading the trunk with a passenger’s luggage.
Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director of New York Taxi Workers Alliance, released a statement by Sajjad Matin which said, “This is a total tragedy. I feel very broken. When I was hospitalized, he came several times to visit. We became close friends, like family, not just roommates. We first met at the taxi garage. And lived together more than six months before my accident and then I moved to the rehabilitation center. In the same house, one driver became an amputee and one driver is dead. It is hard to believe my friend is gone like this.”
Meanwhile, fFamily members, taxi drivers and elected officials gathered for a prayer vigil outside Kings County Hospital for taxi driver Key Chun Kim, 53, who remains in a coma after suffering a brutal assault by a passenger at Skillman St. and Willoughby Ave. in Brooklyn at 6:40am on January 1st. Mr. Kim’s nephew, Stephen Kim, recalled childhood memories of the devoted uncle, a published poet, taking his nephews and nieces to ballgames. His sister, Kristin Kim, says the close-knit Korean immigrant family has been devastated.
“How can we find peace not knowing what will happen to our brother while knowing the man who did this to him is out free living his life while our brother is in a coma?”
Two weeks after the vicious beating, the assailant, Andrew McElroy, 28, remains free on a $10,000 bail. The Kim family, Assembly Members and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance are calling for the District Attorney’s Office to take the case before the grand jury. Without a grand jury indictment of felony charges, the assailant can only be prosecuted on misdemeanors and violations.
“After spending 15 years driving a yellow cab in New York City, Mr. Kim is now fighting for his life. We must do a better job protecting our cab drivers from acts of violence by enhancing the assault penalties and notifying the public of the consequences after such an attack. In the immediate future, I will seek justice by working closely with our community leaders in pushing for a grand jury indictment.” stated Assembly Member Ron Kim (District 40).
Assembly Members Kim, Ed Braunstein and Walter Mosley will be introducing the Taxi Driver Protection Act, requiring assaults against drivers to be prosecuted as felonies and for a sign to be posted in all taxis warning against violence against drivers.
Taxi drivers are thirty times more likely to be killed on the job than other workers. While Albany has passed legislation making assaults against transit workers, nurses and sanitation workers a felony, taxi workers are invisible from the law. “Since Mr. Kim’s incident, we’ve had a member who had his arm broken, another required 12 stitches to his right eye, another suffered head wounds and another had his car door broken while a passenger was seated in the back.
We’ve seen the violence escalate and become a daily occurrence. We need the Taxi Driver Protection Act to send a message that will echo from the back of the taxi, to the streets, to police precincts and to DA’s offices that drivers’ lives matter,” said Bhairavi Desai, NYTWA Executive Director.
If the law was already in place, the assailant who left taxi driver Kim in a coma would already be prosecuted for a felony.
“Unfortunately, the assailant’s penalty has not matched the gravity of his crime. We must be firmly committed to protecting and defending the men and women that keep our city moving. By increasing the maximum sentence for assaulting a cab driver and properly warning cab riders of the consequences of such actions with backseat signs, the Taxi Driver Protection Act will ensure safer work conditions for the largest taxi driver industry in the country,” stated Assemblyman Mosley (District 57.)
India Post News Service
Thank You For Your Vote!
Sorry You have Already Voted!
