Apr 8, 2009 5:59 am US/Eastern
Woman On Receiving End Of Alleged Cab Driver Rage
Yolanda Rodriguez Tells CBS 2 HD The Driver Verbally And Physically Assaulted Her In Front Of Many Witnesses
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
She said she was punched repeatedly and pushed to the ground.
A Bronx woman was talking about a traumatic taxi-cab ride she said left her severely injured.
On Tuesday night the taxi driver in question was charged. CBS 2 HD went up to the Upper West Side where this rough ride came to a violent end.
Yolanda Rodriguez told CBS 2 HD she never wants to see that cabbie drive a taxi again. She said she was struck over and over again at 65th and Broadway. And that came after she said she was verbally assaulted.
"He came out the cab and walked around to where I was sitting and started yelling 'you ------- whores; you ------- -------,'" Rodriguez said, describing a profanity-laced tirade she said the driver launched at her.
Rodriguez said he then went after her, physically punching her once in the shoulder and twice in the face.
"The last time he punched me he hit me so hard I just fell. I couldn't see anything, but I knew I was falling so I put my arms down on the ground to kind of like break my fall," she said.
The 24-year old now suffers from bilateral sprains on her wrists.
Taxi driver Gurpreet Singh was later charged with assault.
This all started when Rodriguez got into his cab 11:30 p.m. on Thursday. She said she started to get motion sickness.
"He did not respond," Rodriguez said, referring to her apparent request for the driver to slow down or pull over. "I couldn't hold it in anymore."
That's when, according to the victim, Singh pulled over and started going after her.
Singh could not be reached Tuesday night, but his roommate spoke with CBS 2 HD.
"He's a very nice person," the woman who answered the door said.
Singh apparently told her a different story about what happened that night.
"[Rodriguez] punched here. He pushed her," the woman said.
The roommate said Rodriguez was the one who started the fracas by punching him. He then defended himself by pushing her. Rodriguez, though, said there were several witnesses who could corroborate her story.
"Nobody has ever been disrespectful to me like that," she said. "And to see a man at that come and hit me? You can say it was a little traumatizing. I hope he spends the rest of his life in jail."
The Taxi and Limousine Commission told CBS 2 HD on Tuesday night Singh's license has been suspended pending the outcome of this criminal investigation.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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