Cab Drivers

Police are investigating two armed robberies of cab drivers yesterday morning in Pioneer City, believed to be committed by the same man.The first holdup occurred at 1:12 a.m. at the intersection of Deerfield Drive and Flintlock Court. Police say the cab driver, Charles Robert Dorsey, 24, from Associated Cab Co., picked up a man in front of the Super Fresh in Glen Burnie and drove him to Pioneer City.The passenger then put Dorsey in a choke hold and demanded all his money, claiming to have a knife, police said.

Aberdeen Deanna Frankhouse, 29, of the 700 block of Maxa Road, was arrested Tuesday on a bench warrant in a case in which she is charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Michael Lawrence Demarest, 33, of the 300 block of Irish Lane, was charged Tuesday wtih second-degree assault. Joseph Malizia, 21, of the first block of Hillman Court, was charged Tuesday with violating an ex parte order. Ashley Elizabeth Lee, 23, who has address in the first block of Taft Street and the 800 block of Coconut Court, was arrested Tuesday on a bench warrant in a case in which she is charged with second-degree assault.

The Annapolis City Council's Rules Committee last night approved a plan to test cab drivers and owners for drug use but rejected a bill that would give city department heads job security.The drug testing bill will be submitted for a council vote next week. The job security bill will be considered next month.Alderman Wayne C. Turner, R-Ward 6, and Transportation Director James Chase proposed testing cab drivers and owners for drug use last year after several people applying for city taxicab licenses were found to have drug records.

A man forced a cab driver to pull over, and claiming to be a police officer pounded on his car, Anne Arundel County police said Thursday. Police said that shortly before 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, an employee of Cab Connection in Linthicum told officers that one of the company's drivers was followed into the Motor Vehicle Administration lot in Glen Burnie by a driver due to a disagreement over a possible traffic violation. Police said the man boxed in the company's driver, and wearing a jacket with the word "police" on the back, claimed to be a police officer, confronted the company's driver, and pounded on the hood of the driver's vehicle before fleeing.

Annapolis cab drivers are paying a lot more for gasoline, and they want to pass along the extra costs to their customers.And taxi operators aren't the only ones left scrambling by soaring gasoline and fuel oil prices. Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins already has ordered conservation measures for all departments, attempting to respond to an anticipated 30 percent increase in fuel costs.In exchange for a fare increase, the cab drivers say they are willing to pay for annual drug tests the city has asked them to take.

The state Public Service Commission today granted Baltimore taxi cab drivers an emergency 9 percent increase because of rising gasoline prices.The rate increase, which was opposed by two cab owners and the Office of the People's Counsel, will boost the price of an average cab ride from $4.40 to $4.80 effective immediately. An average ride, according to the commission, is 3.8 miles long with two minutes of waiting time.Under the terms of the emergency increase, the cab companies will not increase the rent that drivers must pay for cabs; the full amount of the increase will go to the cab driver, who must pay for the gasoline.

NEW YORK -- He's No. 38. That's all. A man who was doing his job and was killed in his cab on some street corner in the South Bronx on a cold November night.Whoever shot Sundulfo Perez didn't take the $200 from his wallet or the gold chain from his neck. All the assailant took from him was his life.And now, the only people in New York who remember Mr. Perez are his fellow workers at the Dyckman car service in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan.They gently place in a folder Mr. Perez's faded passport and a photocopy of a picture of his two children who live in his native Dominican Republic.

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Driving a cab is one of this city's few growth industries. But it has recently become one of the most dangerous as well.Gunmen have slain seven cab drivers in the past 16 months. Several others have been shot or have drawn fire. So far this year, gunmen have slain as many cabbies as policemen, the favorite target of the provisional Irish Republican Army.While the IRA has killed some drivers, contending that they were members of pro-British paramilitary groups, officials say loyalist gunmen have carried out most of the shootings.

Two Harford County cab drivers have been arrested and charged in separate incidents in which undercover officers were driven to county locations for illegal drug purchases, the county sheriff's office said yesterday.James Otha Solomon, 53, of the 400 block of Dembytown Road in Joppa was charged with conspiracy to distribute counterfeit crack cocaine and Christopher Cole Edmondson, 27, of the 1600 block of LaSalle Road in Forest Hill was charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled dangerous substance, described as powder cocaine.

The Annapolis City Council's Rules Committee has scheduled a public hearing tonight on a bill that would require taxicab drivers to take drug tests.The plan, proposed by Alderman Wayne C. Turner, R-Ward 6, and Transportation Director James Chase, would require anyone applying for a taxicab driver's permit or getting one renewed to take a drug test. Cab drivers who fail the test would have their permits suspended.The proposal would also suspend permits for cab drivers and company owners charged or convicted of drug offenses.

A 27-year-old man was charged with assault, robbery and theft in a hold-up of a cab driver early Friday in Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood. Branden Barnes was arrested after detectives spotted him walking along Keswick Road. Officers responded to a robbery report at about 3:30 a.m. in the 3300 block of Keswick Road. The cab driver told police his passenger displayed a knife and demanded money, police said. The victim sustained minor lacerations to his neck and hands in a struggle.

A 28-year-old Baltimore man was convicted of rape, kidnapping and related offenses this week for assaulting a woman at "knife point in his hack taxi cab," the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office announced. Samuel Renard Queen, of the 3500 block of Elmley Ave., faces a maximum of life plus 73 years in prison at his sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled. According to the prosecutors' office, the victim hailed an unlicensed taxi, known as a "hack," after work on the evening of Dec. 6, 2010.

A man is in custody after he allegedly robbed a cab driver at gun point shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday and forced the driver to take him to various locations, including a Glen Burnie convenience store that the man also robbed, police said. Following the robbery at the Dash In, in the 7800 block of Quarterfield Road, the suspect told the cab driver to transport him to Glen Burnie before he eventually got out of the cab., police said The 24-year-old male driver contacted police.

Just hours before Harford County Sheriff Jesse Bane told a group of Abingdon residents that crime overall is down in Harford County, a taxicab driver was stabbed and robbed in the Bel Air area. Bane was hosting one of his town hall meetings at the Abingdon library, about five miles south of where the cab driver was assaulted early Saturday morning, in the area of Crescent Knoll Drive and Fountain Green Road (Route 543). The assailant was still at large Tuesday afternoon, Monica Worrell, public information officer for the Harford County Sheriff's Office said.

Remember last week? When there were waffles? And some cars and boats, but mostly waffles!? Now there are four teams racing to the finale, and this week I get to introduce you to the friendliest taxi drivers in the world. First, we must bid farewell to Atomium, the centerpiece of the 1958 World's Fair. The teams got to sleep in little pods inside Atomium, and that is basically awesome. Teams leave Atomium in the middle of the night with a box of costumes. They have to wear black suits, skinny ties, moustaches and bowler hats.

A 38-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced to 13 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to robbing two city cab drivers in the same day, the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office announced Thursday. Dana Gatling called a cab shortly after midnight on April 8, 2010, and put the driver in a choke hold, threatening to kill her if she didn't hand over her cash, prosecutors said. He swiped the woman's $117 and fled on foot, carjacking another cab hours later and dragging the driver 20 feet as the man held on to his taxi.

The Annapolis City Council's rules committee last night postponed a vote on a bill that would make city cab drivers and owners the first in the nation to take mandatory drug tests.The committee's decision came after a public hearing in City Hall attended by 20 people. Cab drivers and owners disagreed about who should pay for the drug tests and differed over a proposed fare increase.Rules committee members sent the bill back to a committee of cityofficials and cab company owners, insisting that cab drivers should have a say in drafting the legislation.

The Annapolis City Council's Rules Committee will vote on bills tonight that would give city department heads job security and require cab drivers to take drug tests.The bill to protect department directors was proposed by Alderman Ellen O. Moyer, D-Ward 8. Most department heads can be dismissed by the mayor without cause; under Moyer's bill, department heads could be removed only for official misconduct, conviction of a crime or poor performance.Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins opposes Moyer's proposal.

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore judge has declared a mistrial in the murder trial of a man accused shooting a cab driver. Circuit Judge George L. Russell III declared the trial of 23-year-old Robert Lee Murphy of Baltimore inconclusive Friday afternoon. Murphy was charged with murder, assault and handgun charges in the death of 47-year-old Stephen Mauk. Mauk's body was found Jan. 26, 2009 in his cab. He'd been shot in the head. His employer had last heard from him when he was dispatched to pick up a fare for a local trip in Frederick.

A 73-year-old cab driver who was assaulted in Hampden while returning home from work in April has died, police said. John Russell Sandy, of the 800 block of W. 35th St., had gotten off work and was walking home in the 3500 block of Elm Ave. on April 18 when he was repeatedly struck from behind with a tire iron, according to court records. Officers responded at about 4 a.m. and saw him lying in the street, suffering from a fractured skull, multiple broken bones to his left hand and bruises covering most of his body.