They’re getting away with “murder.”
A cabdriver who fatally struck a 9-year-old boy on the Upper West Side Friday was one of at least 21 hacks who have killed or injured pedestrians or cyclists in the city over the past five years — and only one appears to have been charged criminally.
The cases include one cabby who jumped a curb and severed a tourist’s foot in Midtown, a driver who slammed into a popular East Village coffee shop and a hack who killed an East Harlem woman out for a walk on her 65th birthday.
“It’s a complete injustice,” said Paul Steely White, executive director of the pedestrian-advocacy group Transportation Alternatives. “Too many innocent lives have been lost. The message to drivers is if you happen to kill someone, it’s an accident. There’s no guilt, there are no consequences. It’s completely unfair,” he said.
Even cabdriver Faysal Himon — who severed the foot of British tourist Siân Green in Rockefeller Center after arguing with a bicyclist in August 2013 — escaped criminal charges, court records show.
So did Syed Nazir, 49, who allegedly rear-ended a car, then smashed into The Bean coffee shop in the East Village, breaking 71-year-old Preston Krupin’s leg in September 2010, court records show.
In the most recent case, no charges were filed against Koffi Komlani, 53, of Harriman, Orange County — a cabdriver who on Friday fatally struck Cooper Stock, 9, while the boy was crossing the street with his dad, Richard, police sources said.
Komlani was handed a summons for failing to yield as he turned left from 97th Street onto West End Avenue just before 9 p.m., police sources said. His eventual fine, to be determined by a judge, will be between $100 and $300.
Other cases in which no criminal charges were filed against hacks include:
- A cabdriver who fatally hit Timothy Keith, 5, in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, on April 14, 2012.
- A cabdriver who struck a cyclist at the Hudson River Greenway and 43rd Street on Nov. 9, 2011.
- A cabdriver who struck and dragged Amy Fass 40 feet on West 181st Street near Haven Avenue on Feb. 27, 2013.
Police are trained to mark crashes involving cars as “accidents” instead of thoroughly investigating criminal wrongdoing at the scene, pedestrian-rights advocates say.
“That connotes that it’s nobody is at fault. We think that’s wrong. In some cases, there should be blame,” said Gene Russianoff, of the Straphangers Campaign, a transportation advocacy group.
“Terrible things have happened and sometimes nobody is charged.”
It’s difficult for cops to charge a cabdriver with a crime unless he’s on drugs or drunk, sources said
Cabdrivers with poor records may have licenses revoked by the city Taxi and Limousine Commission, said agency spokesman Allan Fromberg.
Drivers with more than six points against them on DMV records may have licences suspended for 30 days. Those with more than 10 may have licenses suspended completely.
Livery-cab driver Boubacar Bathily, 53, was charged with fleeing the scene of a crime in April 2013 after he allegedly fatally struck Taja Johnson at West 133rd Street and Eighth Avenue.
New York Taxi Workers Alliance did not return a requests for comment.