A cab driver beaten by several young people in Manhattan criticized New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) and New York State’s bail reform laws after two of the alleged assailants were released. Afzal Butt said that the current bail reform overhaul is a “horrible system.”
Video footage captured several young people beating the driver earlier this month.
The taxi driver was attempting to pick up food that another group of people threw into his far. At that moment, a number of young people said that he almost struck them with his cab.
“They were walking by and saying that I was going to run over them,” Butt said. “I was just trying to clean my car.”
The 60-year-old taxi driver said that a woman and boy “started breaking my side window.” At that point, the two started striking him.
“They were all hitting me and kicking me, everywhere on my body, my face,” he said.
Footage of the attack shows five people, two men and three women, attacking the man, even after he fell to the ground. Butt covered his face to protect himself while a woman continued kicking him.
“A New York City taxi driver was viciously beaten by a group of five brutes on a busy Midtown Manhattan street last week in a disturbing attack that was caught on camera.”https://t.co/LN0aOyYqjN
— The Article III Project (A3P) (@Article3Project) July 28, 2023
Three suspects have not been identified. Two suspects were arrested by police. The police charged Howard Colley with misdemeanor assault while Natalie Morgan was charged with criminal mischief and released after receiving appearance tickets.
Butt criticized the fact that the suspects were released and said that “everyone is disrespecting yellow-cab drivers.”
Furthermore, he said that New York City left him “hopeless and helpless with this system.”
“Send the mayor the video and tell him die with the shame,” he said.
He said that it took almost three hours to clean out the food thrown into his car. Furthermore, he was left with a swollen eyesocket and described himself as “dizzy and lightheaded.”
“There’s so much pain in my neck,” Butt said. “I still can’t move my neck. My arms, my knees, my hips.”
“My chest felt like I was getting pressure on my chest,” the driver said. “So much pain.”
