Cabbie: I Was Sure I Would Die

Beating by costumed thugs was no Halloween prank, say police.

By PEI-SZE CHENG

Updated 8:07 AM EST, Thu, Nov 12, 2009

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Ghosts and ghouls weren’t the only thing NYC taxi driver Ndiaye Serigne had to look out for this past Halloween.

The 48-year-old Senegal native picked up men who were wearing costumes on Third Avenue and 23rd Street this past Halloween night. It was four in the morning and they wanted to go to Staten Island.

When they crossed the Verrazano Bridge, Serigne said the man in the passenger seat turned off the cab’s meter and allegedly told him, “Now our ride’s free.” Serigne says the passenger then tried to take money out of his pockets. That’s when Serigne pulled the cab into a Mobil Gas Station at 863 Arthur Kill Road.

"I asked the guy inside, the attendant, please call the police,” said Serigne. “I picked up the wrong guy, he's a criminal."

Victim of Halloween Attack Speaks to News 4 New York

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Victim of Halloween Attack Speaks to News 4 New York

But the attendant, who was too scared, did not open the door. What happened next was captured on the gas station’s security video. Four men, two dressed up like the Mario Brothers, Mario and Luigi, and the other two in unidentified costumes pounded Serigne. The thugs are caught on camera punching and kicking the helpless driver, who at one point, throws up his hands around his face to brace himself from the pain. Even after taking more than two-hundred dollars from the driver, they continued to beat him.

“I'm sure I was going to die that night because the guy inside is scared to come out and nobody came out to help me."

Serigne was also scared he would share the same fate as other cab drivers he knew. He says at least two of his neighbors who also drove cabs for a living were killed while on the job.

“I pulled into a gas station,” Serigne said. “Because if I die, someone would find me.”

Police hope that someone will recognize the suspects in the video. If you have any information you are urged to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

First Published: Nov 11, 2009 10:40 PM EST

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These hoodlum passengers were no doubt up to no good and you can be sure they would have caused trouble regardless of who the taxi driver was, but this article tries to create a big racial component to this incident when race clearly had no part in it. go figure the liberal media has to try and race-bait at every opportunity and turn an unrelated incident into a race war by concentrating on the skin color of the alleged suspect skin color just because they are white. If the perpetrator were Muslim they would give them the benefit of the doubt by making sure to use the words "alleged" and "suspect" when referring to them, but because they are white this article shows no such carefulness and instead refers the them as "assailants" who are guilty without any evidence or due process in court."},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"331744_69818057","adminTags":null,"views":290,"createdBy":16552556,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Cabbie: I Was Sure I Would Die","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2725399,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"12 Nov 2009 12:42:26 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":4,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"xdcfvg","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1232313","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"why is it that one of the first things this article mentions is that the alleged suspects are white? how is their skin color in any way relevant to this incident? if the perpetrators had been black you can bet the journalists who work for the liberal media establishment would have been sure to bury such details. when news broke about the horrible massacre at the Fort Hood military base you had to read through the entire article to find out that the gunman was Arabic, but because the suspects are white their skin color seems to somehow become one of the most important details regarding this incident. These hoodlum passengers were no doubt up to no good and you can be sure they would have caused trouble regardless of who the taxi driver was, but this article tries to create a big racial component to this incident when race clearly had no part in it. go figure the liberal media has to try and race-bait at every opportunity and turn an unrelated incident into a race war by concentrating on the skin color of the alleged suspect skin color just because they are white. If the perpetrator were Muslim they would give them the benefit of the doubt by making sure to use the words "alleged" and "suspect" when referring to them, but because they are white this article shows no such carefulness and instead refers the them as "assailants" who are guilty without any evidence or due process in court."},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"331744_69818057","adminTags":null,"views":290,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Cabbie: I Was Sure I Would Die","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2725399,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"12 Nov 2009 12:44:28 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":4,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1232326","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"why is it that one of the first things this article mentions is that the alleged suspects are white? how is their skin color in any way relevant to this incident? if the perpetrators had been black you can bet the journalists who work for the liberal media establishment would have been sure to bury such details. when news broke about the horrible massacre at the Fort Hood military base you had to read through the entire article to find out that the gunman was Arabic, but because the suspects are white their skin color seems to somehow become one of the most important details regarding this incident. These hoodlum passengers were no doubt up to no good and you can be sure they would have caused trouble regardless of who the taxi driver was, but this article tries to create a big racial component to this incident when race clearly had no part in it. go figure the liberal media has to try and race-bait at every opportunity and turn an unrelated incident into a race war by concentrating on the skin color of the alleged suspect skin color just because they are white."}],"error":"","totPages":1}