Cab Driver: Two Women Beat Me, Robbed Me, Stole My Cab
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - A South Florida cab driver is recovering from injuries he suffered after, according to him, two women in his cab choked him, punched him and robbed him.
The cab driver, Jose Gutierrez, said he was attacked while driving the women in the quiet Shady Banks neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale Wednesday afternoon. He said the women drove off in his cab, ditched it a short distance away and ran off.
"I said, 'Please don't kill me, I have a family. I have a son and daughter, you know. A family. Don't kill me, please,'" Gutierrez said he told the women.
The 59-year-old said he picked up the two women in his cab in Lauderdale by the Sea Wednesday afternoon. He said they told him to drive to the out of the way Fort Lauderdale neighborhood where one choked him from behind with some sort of rope, while the other one punched him in the face.
"I said, 'Why did you do that to me?'" Gutierrez told CBS 4's Carey Codd. "I was going to give them the money, I said take the money. Don't hurt me. Let me keep driving."
Gutierrez claims the women got $200 dollars from him but he managed to keep his cell phone and call for help. Surveillance video from a neighbor's house shows Fort Lauderdale police arriving on scene shortly after 5 PM.
Police put the Shady Banks neighborhood near I-95 and Davie Boulevard on lockdown for nearly an hour. Those living in the neighborhood said they've never heard of an attack like this before.
"It's getting to be a strange world," said Gilbert Krough.
Fort Lauderdale Police dusted the cab for fingerprints and searched inside for clues. Gutierrez is angry and hopes the women are caught.
"I wake up this morning at 5 o'clock to earn a living and look at what happened," Gutierrez said.
Investigators say they have several leads they're working to try and catch the women who attacked Gutierrez.
