A savage driving a cab tried to put a scare into the passengers he was driving, causing an accident that ended up killing one of them.

A terrified coed scrambled to get out of a careening taxi yesterday - only to be clipped and killed by another cab after a horrifying high-speed ride along Manhattan’s West Side Highway, friends of the victim said.

Danielle Ricco, 20, was sharing a taxi with three girlfriends after a night out when the cabby, Hassan Afzal, 20, began driving like a madman through Manhattan’s Meat Packing District shortly after 2 a.m., according to at least one other passenger in the car.

Afzal was trying scare the girls because they had complained about the loud rap music he was playing, according to the passenger.

As the friends screamed, Afzal lost control, went over the divider into the oncoming lanes, and hit a building. Ricco, who was trying to escape through a window, was sent flying - and was hit by another cab that had swerved to avoid the runaway taxi, her friends said.

Most taxi drivers in this city drive like assholes. There are a few who don’t, but there are nowhere near enough of them. When you get in a cab, you’re at the mercy of the animal behind the wheel who wants to get you to your destination in record time so he can grab another fare. Unfortunately, in this case, the animal scumbag behind the wheel wanted to teach one of the girls a lesson and ended up killing her.

It’s a tragedy that was easily preventable, but because the savage behind the wheel wanted to play macho tough guy, someone died. I hope they throw the damned book at him.

Technorati Tags: taxi, nyc, driver, accident, new york, hassan afzal

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 at 7:50 am and is filed under Localized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.