Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Cabbies Keep Driving Despite Their Roles In Fatal Crashes
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 9, 2014
Modified Feb 10, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Photograph by Vautrin
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 9, 2014
Modified Feb 10, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Despite the de Blasio administration's commitment to Vision Zero, there's been a surge of pedestrian fatalities so far in 2014, including a 9-year-old boy who was fatally struck by a cab driver on the Upper West Side in front of his father. Taxi driver Koffi Komlani was only given a $300 summons for failure to yield to a pedestrian in that incident, and still has his license. It turns out that this pattern is routine.
The Post reports that only two taxi drivers out of 16 involved in fatal or serious crashes since 2009 have had their licenses revoked. This includes Usman Gul, who fatally struck 5-year-old deaf child Timothy Keith in Brooklyn in 2012. Gul said he wasn't able to break in time to stop his cab when Keith ran into the street, telling the Post he didn't feel guilty: "Actually, no, I’m not too much sad. Actually, I’m not this fault happen [sic]," he said.
There's Syed Nazir, who allegedly hit an SUV and ended up in The Bean coffee shop at First Avenue and Third Street in September 2010. His car struck several people, including a 71-year-old whose leg was snapped. And last summer, cabbie Faysal Himon careened up onto a Midtown sidewalk and severed the foot of British tourist Sian Green.
Himon later blamed the incident on a cyclist: "When I crashed, I didn’t even see the lady. At first, I didn’t think I hit anyone, then I saw her foot by my car. I can’t get it out of my mind... I personally feel that if that man on the bike didn’t bang on my car, maybe this would not have happened." Himon still has a current taxi license.
"This culture of acceptance that traffic fatalities and serious injuries are the normal course of urban living, like the weather, is no longer acceptable," Gene Russianoff, an attorney for the Straphangers Campaign who is advocating for mandatory post-accident suspensions, told the Post. "It is not acceptable to have people who have killed pedestrians or grievously harmed them to maintain their license."
You may not lose your license if you slice off someone's foot or fatally strike them, but you will lose it if you sexually harass a female passenger.
Tagged
cabbies
cabs
fatal incidents
taxis
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
NYC tow companies busted for ripping off drivers must give $67K in refunds, city says
Mayor Mamdani has expanded enforcement on towing scams, but the unlicensed towing industry remains largely unregulated.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Oct 2, 2026 at 4:47 p.m. ET
Off-duty NYPD officer stabbed in the Bronx, police say
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Commissioner Jessica Tisch visited the officer in the hospital.
By
Ryan Kost
News
Off-duty NYPD officer stabbed in the Bronx, police say
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Commissioner Jessica Tisch visited the officer in the hospital.
By
Ryan Kost
DOC negligence factored in death at Rikers' Bellevue hospital outpost, jail officials say
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Conductor on NYC subway that dragged man to death may have skipped safety check, source says
By
Stephen Nessen
NYPD still searching for man who threw burning substance on victim in East Harlem
By
Ryan Kost
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .