A dad-of-four taxi driver was killed this weekend after he chased down passengers who tried to rob him, police have said.
New York City taxi driver Kutin Gyimah, 52, was dropping off five people around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday in Queens when the senseless violence unfolded.
The married dad-of-four young kids ran after the group after leaving them at their destination - at Beach 54th Street and Arverne Boulevard in the Rockaways.
After fleeing, at least one of the passengers took a swing at the cabbie, which sent him flying across the street.
Police have said it was near Arverne Playground that he cracked his head open following the strike.
Security footage obtained by The Post then shows the hooligans taking off towards Beach Channel Driver.
Part of the video shows the dad being punched by a man wearing a black T-shirt and black pants with a yellow stripe.
Responding officers found the 52-year-old lying in the roadway near a playground, with “trauma to the back of his head,” the NYPD said.
Tragically, he was pronounced dead at St. John’s Hospital.
Fernando Mateo of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers spoke out about the horrific incident.
Mr Mateo said: "This is a poor hardworking man, how can you leave your home and NOT return, this is outrageous. We are angry, we are in disbelief, we want justice.
"These murderers must be caught and we are offering a $15,000 reward...All funeral expenses will be covered by the owners of Big Apple Taxi Fleet Management where Mr [Gyimah] worked."
He also added that NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell "assured us that the NYPD will find those responsible."
The widow of slain Mr Gyimah - with whom he shares kids aged three, five, seven and eight - was left "speechless" Mr Mateo told The Post, adding: “They’re just devastated. She’s speechless — crying, wailing.
“Every time she looks at the pictures on the wall she breaks down. He’s leaving her with four babies and he’s not coming back.”
Abigail Barwuah added that her young kids did not know their dad was dead till after a Sunday press conference
“They were asking me, ‘Mommy, why are you wearing black? Where is Daddy?’ because they know that he goes to work today and tomorrow,” Mrs Barwuah, recalled in an interview with the New York Post.
“‘He went yesterday, and he’s supposed to be home today, where is he?’ ” she said their children asked her.
She then sadly said: "But after the press conference, we broke the news to them.”
Mr Gyimah's devastated family - originally from Ghana - have set up a GoFundMe page, which has so far raised $84,243 (£69,465) out of the aim of $100,000 (£82,458).
According to the online fundraiser, set up by Spyros Drakos, they are hoping to raise money "to cover not only funeral expenses but support living expense and an educational future for his four children."
The dad-of-four was also described as a hard working man, and "Was one of our cab drivers who worked honestly and tirelessly to support his family.
The fundraiser said: “All through the worst days of the pandemic, he was one of the few who still drove a cab to provide support for our city and its citizens.”
A City Hall spokesman called Mr Gyimah’s killing, “not only devastating, but unacceptable...We extend our deepest condolences to the victim’s family, friends, and co-workers during this painful time and we will work diligently to bring all people responsible to justice.”
Police sources have also added that the deadly beating was caught on video, although the NYPD have not confirmed that.
The last crime-related death of a yellow taxi driver was in July 2019, when a driver got out of his vehicle in the Bronx, and was run over by the cab as he chased a passenger who’d stolen his backpack, Mr Mateo added.
