Cabbie Sideswipes Brownstoner’s Wife in Brooklyn Heights

By on November 5, 2009 5:57 pm in Brooklyn Heights

Getting in an accident stinks.   When the reckless wacko who sideswipes you is a cabbie – ostensibly a “professional” driver – it just makes things worse.

Our pal Brownstoner just posted this dispatch:

A few minutes ago Mrs. B was side-swiped on Pierrepont Street in a hit-and-run by a yellow cab with medallion number 3Y65; there were three small children in the back of the car. No one was hurt but we’re out a side view mirror. We reported it to TLC but don’t have a lot of faith they’ll do anything about it. It will be interesting to watch the slow wheels of bureaucracy turn though.

We’re glad no one was hurt.   The cabbie fled the scene.  Brownstoner says the hack knew he’d done some damage because, “Mrs. B chased him for a couple of blocks honking her horn so we’re pretty sure he was aware!”

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  • tb

    So the car was side swiped? No police called???

  • T.K. Small

    You can file a complaint directly with the TLC. A friend of mine did this and got some results.

  • kam

    T.K. Small is right. I was harrassed coming home from JFK by a TLC driver. I reported him and had a hearing. He was fined. The system does work…sometimes. Good noone was hurt.

  • cat

    Will the TLC take it more seriously if you file a police report? Call the police and give them the medallion number.

  • my2cents

    Definitely report it to the TLC. They do fine the drivers. Also, if a driver is giving you trouble when you are in a cab (like refusing to take you to a destination, or telling you his credit card machine is “broken”), making note of his medallion number and telling him you will call the TLC on him is a quick way to get compliance.

  • nabeguy

    “Professional”? If the ability to cut off 3 lanes of traffic at 35 mph to get a fare or the skill at hitting every pothole in the street are included in that definition, then, yeah, I guess they’re pros.

  • my2cents

    I once had a cabby who was so hopeless that I felt like a puppeteer. If I said go left he would start turning even though there was no intersection, and I would have to say “no, left at the INTERSECTION!” I think there should be higher standards for Cab drivers like they have in London. In London, they have to study for months and learn every single road in the metropolis. Why can’t we have that here? There is also a large amount of illegality taking place at night where unlicensed drivers will often take over for their cousin or whoever officially is supposed to be driving the cab. If you ever see the spot where there license is blank, that’s probably because the guy driving is not legally supposed to be driving that cab. I know many of these people are immigrants who work long hours and are trying to get ahead and provide for their families. I just wish they took the job more seriously by learning to drive properly and learning the streets!

  • Eddy

    Yes call 311 and file it with the TLC, they will follow-up. I got a cabbie fined $550 for not taking me to Brooklyn… Imagine what they’ll do for a hit and run… I’d definitely file a police report too.

  • nabeguy

    I would think that his insurance company would require a police report.

  • who cares

    The blogosphere, where the culture of narcissism get’s writ large. Taxi drivers do bad or merely annoying things to people everyday but when it happens to the “publisher,” and I use the word loosely, of a blog, the universe goes off its axis.

  • nabeguy

    Excuse me, but the universe went to its computers and blogged about it, that’s all. If you got off your own axis and started a blog, you could be a narcissistic publisher as well.

  • Jazz

    Wc – yet you commented. Don’t choke on that haterade.

  • nabeguy

    haterade…good one, Jazz.

  • Andrew Porter

    I’m reminded of the time on Hicks Street when a car with TLC plates went around another one by riding up onto the sidewalk, with the two right wheels on the sidewalk, at speed.

  • Andrew Porter

    I’m curious why the above comment, made at 1am, is listed as being made half an hour later. Does this give me an alibi for a potential crime, or is the blog’s clock mis-set?