A cabbie accused of mowing down his passengers after refusing to take them from Midtown to the Bronx has been arraigned on charges of vehicular assault and leaving the scene of an accident.
Mohammed Azam appeared in a Manhattan court Monday after the incident over the weekend, which left one man with a fractured skull and broken leg.
Police said Anthony Loreto, 22, and three friends flagged down his cab just before 4 a.m. Sunday and asked for a ride to the Bronx.
Once the foursome got into the car, Azam allegedly refused to take them to the outer borough and an argument ensued over whether Azam had a legal obligation to do so.
The 27-year-old driver drove Loreto and his friends to a Midtown police station to settle the dispute, where cops told Azam that he was indeed legally required to take his fares to the Bronx.
Once outside the police station, Azam allegedly leaped into the cab and drove his car into his fares, police said.
Loreto, who had clung to the hood of the taxi to avoid being hit, was flung into the air as Azam swerved, his father told the News. He remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell with a fractured skull and broken leg.
The cabbie also hit a 23-year-old man, apparently one of Loreto's friends. The other victim was taken to the hospital in stable condition with unknown injuries, police said.
Police arrested Azam Sunday night at his Jackson Heights home. He was charged with vehicular assault and leaving the scene of an accident.
It wasn't known if Azam had a lawyer. There was no number listed for his home in Jackson Heights.
