Man Stabbed to Death by Livery Cab Driver in Queens: Cops

The suspect threatened the would-be passengers with a bat before stabbing them

Police are looking for a cab driver who they believed stabbed and killed a young father and seriously injured another man on a Queens street early Saturday. 

The victims, 26-year-old Isaac Martinez of Astoria and an unidentified 33-year-old, were found stabbed outside of 68-10 Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, officials said.

Martinez, who had been stabbed in the chest, was pronounced dead after being taken to Elmhurst Hospital. The other man, who had been stabbed in the stomach, is in stable condition.

Police said they were attacked by a livery cab driver who stopped to pick them up and then started arguing with them. Authorities said they believe the driver threatened Martinez and his companion with a bat before stabbing them.

Martinez's family members say he was a hard-working father trying to make ends meet for his 5-year-old son.

"You don't hear about someone so young to go," said Michael Aguirre, his cousin.

Police are investigating who was behind the wheel of a black Lincoln Town Car spotted at the scene, but Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for taxi drivers, cautioned against assuming the suspect was a livery cab driver.

"You see a black Lincoln Town Car, I would even think it's a livery cab driver, but in a lot of cases we have proven that it's not livery cab drivers committing these kind of crimes," Mateo said. "It's people that pretend to be drivers."

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