NYS Federation Of Taxi Drivers Offers Reward For Information In Fatal Shooting Of Livery Driver
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers says a man who was found shot to death in a car near Rockaway Park in Queens was a livery cab driver.
Driver Patrick Hall was found in a Crown Victoria around 7:30 a.m. Sunday having been shot in the back of the head.
Fernando Mateo, spokesman for the NYS Federation of Taxi Drivers, is asking that anyone with information on shooting call the police and said the tragedy highlights the dangers cab drivers face .
1010 WINS' Terry Sheridan reports
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"Don't wait a day. Don't wait two days," Mateo said. "And we would like those images distributed to the bases in the area so that our drivers can also know not to pick up the person or suspect that killed this man. Instead they can call the police and they can arrest him."
LISTEN: WCBS 880 spoke with Mateo on the investigation
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"Extremely dangerous to pick up street hails in the outer boroughs, and if their car isn't properly equipped with a partition, a GPS system, it makes it that much more dangerous. A camera cannot stop a bullet. A bullet-proof partition can hopefully save your life," Mateo said.
"Streets in Manhattan are very well lit. There are lots of patrol cars most of the time in the street. When you go to boroughs like Brooklyn and the Bronx that are huge and have a lot of desolated, small, dark streets, that is where the criminals basically take you in order to execute you," he added.
Police are investigating the shooting, but Mateo was disappointed in the initial response.
"If the driver had a camera in the car, we know that there are images there than can be downloaded so that we can see who the suspect is. I reached out to the detectives at the 101st Precinct to offer them assistance in downloading those images immediately, and the detective simply hung up the phone on me," Mateo said.
A $1,000 reward has been posted in the case.
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