Photo courtesy of a GoFundMe page set up by Jeffrey Kankam
Police are looking for an assailant who beat and slashed a taxi driver outside Tracy Towers in the Jerome Park section of the Bronx. Officers from the 52nd precinct were called to 40 West Mosholu Parkway South, at 12:33 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5 in response to a call about an attack.
Officials say a 25-year-old victim was beaten and slashed on the left side of his face by a still-unknown, male suspect. The victim was transported to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was treated and later released. One investigator said, “The dispute was over the cab fare.”
A GoFundme page was created on Thursday, Aug. 20, with the aim of raising $20,000 to help cover the driver’s time out of work, and medical bills. After just three days, it had raised just over $23,000.
According to the GoFundMe page, Jeffrey Kankam organized the fundraiser on behalf of Raymond Adjetey, the victim. The page describes how on Aug. 5, Adjetey, who is a master’s degree student and a part-time cab driver, was beaten, slashed in the face, and assaulted by a passenger he picked-up in his cab.
Photo courtesy of a GoFundMe page set up by Jeffrey Kankam
The passenger was allegedly picked up at 184th Street and Jerome Avenue in the Bronx at around 10:11 p.m on the date of the attack, was on the phone, and appeared very angry, arguing with his girlfriend. Adjetey took the passenger to the address given to him by the passenger who later insisted he had been brought to the wrong place. The passenger then gave Adjetey a second address and the driver took him to the second address without charging him extra. Again, the passenger insisted he was at the wrong address.
According to the GoFundMe page account of the incident, the passenger was still angry at this stage, and blamed Adjetey for apparently taking him to the wrong place a second time, even though he had been brought to the address he provided to Adjetey (for a second time). Adjetey then told the passenger that he was sorry and could not continue with the trip. At that point, the passenger became [more] aggressive, and told Adjetey he would “beat the shit out of” him if he did not move the car. He proceeded to then attack Adjetey, beating him on the head. According to the account, the passenger hit Adjetey with his phone so hard, the screen on his phone cracked, and Adjetey later ended up with bruises around the back of his head.
The passenger then took an orange box cutter knife from his pocket and told Adjetey to move the car or he would stab him. Out of fear for his life, Adjetey proceeded to a third address provided to him by the passenger, who allegedly insulted and threatened Adjetey along the route, insisting that he would cut the driver if he stopped the car. When Adjetey arrived at Tracy Towers, he quickly got out of the car and told the passenger he would call the police if he didn’t also get out of the car. The passenger then got out of the car and told Adjetey not to call the police, and said, “If I get arrested for beating you up, I will do seven years in prison; so I will rather give you a scar in [sic] your face, and even if I get arrested, I know that you also have a mark in [sic] your face.”
Photo courtesy of a GoFundMe page set up by Jeffrey Kankam
The passenger then suddenly cut Adjetey with the box cutter, causing a laceration to his face, and then ran away. Witnesses called 911 and Adjetey was rushed to the emergency room, where a surgeon and medical team tried their best to stitch the wound. However, the aftereffect is that the driver has to follow up with a plastic surgeon to organize skin grafting or a laser skin procedure to prevent a scare from indenting on his face. Such medical procedures are not covered by Adjetey’s public insurance policy, and he, therefore, has to cover these expenses out of his own pocket.
Police said that there have been no arrests following the incident, and the investigation is ongoing.
The public are encouraged to help Adjetey cover the cost of the skin grafting procedure by donating via the GoFundMe page.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
All calls are strictly confidential.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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