Cab

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.

Police are investigating two nonfatal shootings that occurred within an hour of each other Thursday night. The first happened in the 3300 block of Dorchester Ave. in Northwest Baltimore about 9 p.m. when police say a 23-year-old man was the passenger inside an unlicensed cab. Police say another vehicle pulled up alongside the car and fired inside the car, striking only the victim once in the chest. The man was transported to an area hospital, police said, and his condition is not known.

Howard County police were looking for a man they say robbed a cab driver Saturday night in Columbia. According to police, Alexander Bofah was approached by a man in the Long Reach Village Center parking lot around 8 p.m. seeking a ride. After the man got into the cab and Bofah began to drive away, the suspect put a knife to Bofah's neck and demanded cash, police said. After a struggle, Bofah, 38, gave him an undisclosed amount of money, and the suspect fled. Bofah then called police. He described the man as black, about 5 feet 9 inches, between 25 and 30 years old, with short black hair.

Yellow Cab of Baltimore celebrated its 100th anniversary Thursday with a downtown parade of taxis, including vintage cabs and even the most modern addition, hybrid vehicles. W.W. Cloud purchased the Brown and Blue Cab companies in 1909 and renamed them Yellow, making it the oldest registered Yellow Cab in the country, according to company officials. The cars, however, were black. Yellow grew and expanded until 2001, when Yellow Transportation of Baltimore was acquired by a global transportation company now known as Veolia Transportation.

Jennifer Williams, a young mother of two, lives in an East Baltimore neighborhood where corner stores and carry-outs are the only places to shop. Yet Williams and other carless residents of inner-city "food deserts" are not as stranded as they might seem. They regularly shop at full-sized supermarkets miles from home by catching rides in hack cabs. "I go all the time - twice a week," she said. Illegal and notoriously dangerous, unlicensed cabs are an unlikely ally in the search for affordable and healthful food.

Baltimore taxi customers will see a decrease in fares next week but cabdrivers are protesting the change because of fewer fares in the poor economy, other increasing expenses and rising gasoline prices. As of March 1, the rate will decrease by 55 cents, lowering the cost from $2.20 to $1.65 per mile. In addition, the flat rate that riders pay for trips from downtown hotels to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport will decrease from $30 to $22. Goitom Gebre-Ab and Tsegaye Yitbarek, both drivers for about two decades, said the notice about the decreased surcharge arrived on the same day as a letter announcing that their dues and insurance costs would increase by $6 per week.

Stephen Mauk, a driver for Yellow Cab of Frederick, was dispatched to pick up passengers in his minivan early yesterday - and that was the last his co-workers heard from him, a company official said. Four hours later, Mauk, 47, was found shot to death in his cab at a public housing complex in East Baltimore, according to city police. Police said the man was shot once in the head while sitting in the driver's seat in the 200 block of N. Bond St. An autopsy is pending. Police officials did not release a possible motive in the killing, which led homicide detectives to travel to Frederick yesterday as part of their investigation.

Gangsta Granny's getting no love. No signal 10s, no flags, no regulars. In plain English: No customers and no money. Now the sleepy scene outside the Doubletree Hotel in North Baltimore seems to promise more of the same. "Nothing's moving," she says with a weary sigh, edging onto University Parkway. It's just after 10 in the morning, but Lucy Davis, aka Gangsta Granny, has been on the job six hours already. So far it is shaping up as a so-so day, maybe worse. For cabbies like her, that's life nowadays.