A livery cab driver who locked passengers inside his car as he tried to flee from police was sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation.
Bhupinder Singh, 38, of Ridgewood pleaded guilty last month to first-degree unlawful imprisonment.
According to District Attorney Richard Brown’s office, Singh illegally offered arriving passengers at JFK International Airport his services as ground transportation for hire on the afternoon of Feb. 21. Port Authority Police Officers Dante Castro-Recio and Robert Fury observed Singh escort an unsuspecting family of four from Panama into his Lincoln Town Car, and so they blocked Singh’s vehicle with their unmarked police car. When the officers exited their car and identified themselves as police, Singh locked his car’s doors, put his vehicle in reverse, and drove around them, attempting to flee the scene.
During the high-speed chase, one of the passengers grabbed the steering wheel and yanked it to the right, causing Singh’s vehicle to crash into a guardrail. Singh then got out of the car and ran away on foot. He was caught after a brief foot pursuit and attempt to resist arrest.
Brown said, “Unregulated taxis and unscrupulous drivers – who are not properly licensed and who do not carry appropriate insurance – put passengers at serious risk. Reckless behavior such as that exhibited by the defendant can neither be tolerated nor go unpunished.”
