Photo Credit: http://gothamist.com/2013/08/21/councilmember_taxi_incident_prime_c.php "The scene of yesterday's incident, via Bradd Jaffy"

“After Cabbie Maims Tourist, Councilman Demands Changes at NYPD,” Christopher Robbins for Gothamist

Gothamist interviewed Steve Vaccaro about the failure to bring criminal charges against a reckless cab driver that accelerated into a cyclist in a road rage incident and then severed a British tourist’s leg in midtown.

The chair of the City Council’s public safety committee expressed concern today at the NYPD’s reluctance to criminally charge the cab driver who jumped a curb outside Rockefeller Center yesterday morning, striking a cyclist and severely injuring a pedestrian.

Steve Vaccaro, an attorney and safe streets advocate, says that the pedestrian-saturated location, the cab driver’s reportedly high rate of speed, the distance the cab traveled on the sidewalk after it hopped the curb, and the testimony from eyewitnesses all make a strong case for criminal charges.

“There are a bunch of lesser charges that could be considered, but based on what’s been reported, the DA should certainly be pressing charges here for 1st degree assault—that’s a Class B felony.”

Click here for the full article.