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Video: Cabbie Vs. Pedicab Driver in Midtown Brawl
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 6, 2009
Modified Oct 6, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 6, 2009
Modified Oct 6, 2009
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A Fox 5 cameraman happened to be shooting footage near the Ed Sullivan Theater yesterday for a segment on taxi medallions when an angry brawl exploded between a pedicab driver and a cabbie. It starts when the pedicab driver, fed up with the hack honking his horn behind him, tosses a cup of coffee at the cab's passenger-side window. You gonna take that cabbie? Not in New York! Check it out:
Fox 5 reporter Reid Lamberty and a photographer from Entertainment Tonight, who was covering the David Letterman sextortion story outside the theater, eventually pried the two apart. It doesn't look like any blood was spilled, but then the pedicab driver, who comes off as the loser in this bout, goes all WWE, picking up a metal garbage can and [SPOILER!] heaving it at the hack. He misses, and then escapes by pedaling off into the sunset, first against traffic and then on the sidewalk, naturally.
You do hate to see violence, but on the other hand, this is so quintessentially New York that we can't help but smile like Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success: "I love this dirty town."
Tagged
bike
brawl
cab
car
driver
fight
midtown
nyc
pedicab
taxi
video
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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