NEW YORK—State Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) celebrated the passing of the Taxi Driver Protection Act Sunday in front of the Penn Station.
Sponsored by state Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) and Lancman, the legislation will increase penalties for assaulting taxi drivers and require each taxi cab to post a sign reading, “Warning: Assaulting a taxi driver is punishable by up to twenty-five years in prison.”
“Taxi drivers, like bus drivers and subway conductors, play a vital role in our mass transit system, and they deserve the same protection against abuse from violent passengers who see them as easy prey,” said Lancman, who is the chair of the Assembly Subcommittee on Workplace Safety, in a press release.
The legislation was passed in a unanimous vote of 60 to 0 Friday afternoon in the New York State Senate and was subsequently passed 141 to 1 in the Assembly on Tuesday.
“This is the first anti-violence measure to protect taxi workers in over 25 years. We believe it will go a long way in ensuring drivers return home safely after a long shift. Drivers may be alone in the front seat, but they will no longer be isolated by the law,” said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the NYTWA, a union representing more than 11,000 taxi drivers in New York City.
Misdemeanor assaults, which previously carried a maximum imprisonment of one year, will be punished with a mandatory two-year term if the victim is a taxi driver. The penalty for felony assaults will be increased by five additional years if the victim is a taxi driver.
Abubakar Abdallah, 46, and Jangbir Singh, 45, were victims of the recent attacks on taxi drivers. Abdallah was left with a fractured nose and cuts to the face and shoulder, while five attackers took his taxi and collided it into another car. Singh was spat at, racially slandered and assaulted in the arm with a metal pipe.
Taxi driver Shajedur Rahman was assaulted in late 2005 and went into a coma. He remains in vegetative state to this day.
In order to encourage the passage of the bill, participating taxis decorated with symbolic red ribbons drove in a motorcade to Albany on May 25.
Gov. David Paterson is expected to sign the bill into law within a week.
“This victory was shouldered by the members of NYTWA who made the trek to Albany, sacrificing income, sleep, rest, paying lease out of pocket and covering the trip costs themselves,” read a NYTWA press release.
“We are overjoyed beyond words. … May this victory—won in an unprecedented six weeks of mobilization—be the shining reminder that unity is power and workers united will never be defeated.”
Sponsored by state Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) and Lancman, the legislation will increase penalties for assaulting taxi drivers and require each taxi cab to post a sign reading, “Warning: Assaulting a taxi driver is punishable by up to twenty-five years in prison.”
“Taxi drivers, like bus drivers and subway conductors, play a vital role in our mass transit system, and they deserve the same protection against abuse from violent passengers who see them as easy prey,” said Lancman, who is the chair of the Assembly Subcommittee on Workplace Safety, in a press release.
The legislation was passed in a unanimous vote of 60 to 0 Friday afternoon in the New York State Senate and was subsequently passed 141 to 1 in the Assembly on Tuesday.
“This is the first anti-violence measure to protect taxi workers in over 25 years. We believe it will go a long way in ensuring drivers return home safely after a long shift. Drivers may be alone in the front seat, but they will no longer be isolated by the law,” said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the NYTWA, a union representing more than 11,000 taxi drivers in New York City.
Misdemeanor assaults, which previously carried a maximum imprisonment of one year, will be punished with a mandatory two-year term if the victim is a taxi driver. The penalty for felony assaults will be increased by five additional years if the victim is a taxi driver.
Abubakar Abdallah, 46, and Jangbir Singh, 45, were victims of the recent attacks on taxi drivers. Abdallah was left with a fractured nose and cuts to the face and shoulder, while five attackers took his taxi and collided it into another car. Singh was spat at, racially slandered and assaulted in the arm with a metal pipe.
Taxi driver Shajedur Rahman was assaulted in late 2005 and went into a coma. He remains in vegetative state to this day.
In order to encourage the passage of the bill, participating taxis decorated with symbolic red ribbons drove in a motorcade to Albany on May 25.
Gov. David Paterson is expected to sign the bill into law within a week.
“This victory was shouldered by the members of NYTWA who made the trek to Albany, sacrificing income, sleep, rest, paying lease out of pocket and covering the trip costs themselves,” read a NYTWA press release.
“We are overjoyed beyond words. … May this victory—won in an unprecedented six weeks of mobilization—be the shining reminder that unity is power and workers united will never be defeated.”
Friends Read Free