Comply or Defend Yourself.

[Lars]

This cabbie had been robbed before. He always complied with his attackers. He also got shot in the face, resulting in the loss of his eye because of it.

What would/could you have done differently?


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/nyregion/11taxi.html?ref=nyregion

August 11, 2008
Cab Driver Recalls Shot Destroying His Right Eye
By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ and DAVID GIAMBUSSO

The large white bandage covering Enois Malbranche’s right eye hid the hole left by a young woman in his taxi who had demanded his money, pointed a gun at his face and pulled the trigger.

“When you get shot, it’s hot and you see the flash,” Mr. Malbranche, 62, a yellow-cab driver for nine years, said from his bed at Kings County Hospital Center on Sunday, three days after he was attacked. “Then I saw blood.”

The police arrested April Pierce, 19, of Brooklyn, on Sunday and charged her with attempted murder, robbery and use of a firearm. They would not say what led to her arrest.

About 6 a.m. on Thursday, three women, whom Mr. Malbranche estimated to be 18 or 19 years old, got into his cab at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn, he said. He drove them about a mile, to Lafayette and Classon Avenues, in Clinton Hill, stopped the cab and waited for them to pay.

One of the women asked if he had change for a $100 bill, but he said he only had $50. They whispered in the back seat until Mr. Malbranche got impatient, he said. “O.K., girls, I have to go,” he said he told them.

Two of the women got out of the cab, Mr. Malbranche said, while the third stayed in the back seat, pulled a gun and demanded his money.

Mr. Malbranche was not one to put up a fight. He had been robbed in his taxi before and had always cooperated with the robbers. “I always just handed over the money and let it go,” he said.

He gave the woman his money, but she did not leave the cab. “Don’t do it, don’t do it,” he remembered one of the women outside the car saying. Then, Mr. Malbranche said, the woman in the car shot him, the bullet hitting the top of his left cheekbone and moving diagonally to his right eye socket.

After the women left, Mr. Malbranche said, in a state of panic he continued to drive for a few minutes, screaming, “Help! Someone please help me,” as blood streamed down his shirt. He finally stopped his taxi and asked a passer-by to call 911.

The police found him at the corner of Franklin and Lafayette Avenues, and he was taken to Kings County Hospital Center. On Friday, he underwent a six-hour operation to remove damaged tissue in preparation for an artificial eye.

A steady stream of friends and relatives came to the hospital on Sunday to visit Mr. Malbranche, who immigrated from Haiti 30 years ago. He has three children: Michelet, 35; Shelly, 20; and Evan, 21. His wife of 22 years, Marise, died of breast cancer in April.

Mr. Malbranche said on Sunday that he can see out of his left eye now and that the pain has lessened. “I have God with me,” he added.

A day after the shooting, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance called for harsher prosecution of crimes against taxi drivers, and said that signs should be placed inside and outside of cabs to warn against violent acts. “The idea that this hard-working man, who was just widowed, was targeted and shot at after he was robbed, is devastating and heart-wrenching,” said Bhairavi Desai, the executive director of the alliance. “It’s a clear sign that there are many people on the street who think taxi drivers are easy prey.”

 

[indyjoe]

I think he did would you would expect to be the most survivable choice in that situation. The only advantage to pulling a gun might have been to frighten the criminal into a miss, rather than a hit. You wonder in that situation if you can get effective hits to the torso by shooting through the seat, so that you can get rounds on target first. Although that would have seemed like a higher risk at the time than just complying. The only reason to even consider it is with 20/20 hindsight.

Most situations, you can't beat a drawn gun. Compliance seemed like the best course of action. Probably what I would have done in that situation. Loosing an eye is better than being dead, so it certainly could have been worse.

 

[Lars]

I was thinking some situational awareness would have really helped. The girls were clearly acting suspicious with one remaining in the car, asking if he could make change for $100, etc.

I think the hair on the back of my neck would have been on end before the girl pulled out her gun.

 

[Bill of Rights]

What would/could you have done differently?

Moved out of NYC or taken a less risky job. Like maybe EOD.

Blessings,
B

 

[Bigum1969]

Being a cabbie in NYC has got to be dangerous.

That, coupled with having your back to people all the time, makes that a precarious way to make a living.

 

[indyjoe]

I was thinking some situational awareness would have really helped. The girls were clearly acting suspicious with one remaining in the car, asking if he could make change for $100, etc.

I think the hair on the back of my neck would have been on end before the girl pulled out her gun.

I agree. Perhaps also the answer to that question would have helped. "No, sorry. I just started my shift and had to give most of my change to my last fare. I've only got $5." That might have ended the robbery before she started.

Although, the shooting sounds like she decided getting into the cab that he was going to die, regardless. Unfortunately, some gangs require you to kill in. Not sure if that was the case here or not.

Maybe ejector seats in the back?

 

[GetA2J]

Shut down all taxi service for a month. Tell the public that their passivism is the reason for their having to walk. Maybe they will start to fight back. At least call 911 when they see something suspicious.

ETA: The reasoning here is that if you inconvenience people they get fiesty.