RIDGEWOOD — Police arrested a 20-year-old Ridgewood man in early September after he beat a livery cab driver during a robbery, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Luis Castro, of 17-16 Woodbine St. in Ridgewood, was arraigned on robbery charges before Queens Criminal Court Judge Robert Raciti Sept. 7 and ordered held on $4,000 bail, the DA said. The defendant will return to court Sept. 23, he said.
The victim, a 32-year-old livery cab driver, picked up the defendant and another man on Steinway Street in Astoria and drove them to the corner of Woodbine Street and Onderdonk Avenue in Ridgewood Sept. 7, the DA said.
Castro then put the driver in a choke hold and took $120 and a cell phone from the victim's pocket, the DA said.
The victim got out of the car and the defendants told him that they had a gun and planned to kill him, Brown said.
The defendants began punching the victim in the face and head, breaking his glasses and causing a laceration to his face, the DA said.
Police observed the attack when they arrived on the scene, Brown said.
