Police on Thursday, Aug. 18, announced the arrest of two of the five suspects wanted in connection with the death of a 52-year-old cabbie who died after he was attacked by a group of passengers who allegedly tried to rob him in Edgemere on Aug. 13.
On Thursday afternoon, authorities cuffed 20-year-old Austin Amos, of Beach 56th place, for his alleged role in the attack. He faces charges of manslaughter, gang assault, assault and theft of services, police said.
The NYPD also arrested a second suspect, 20-year-old Nickolas Porter, of Hassock Street, in connection with the fatal assault. He faces charges of gang assault and theft of services.
Police on Thursday night also announced the arrest of a 15-year-old girl, who faces charges of gang assault and theft of services.
Kutin Gyimah, a cabbie who worked in Queens and lived in the Bronx, succumbed to injuries he sustained after falling to the ground during the incident near the corner of Beach 54th Street and Arverne Boulevard in Edgemere, on the Rockaway Peninsula.
According to law enforcement sources, the driver had thrown five individuals out of his yellow taxi minivan at the intersection just before 6:29 a.m. on Aug. 13. Police sources said it appeared the group of individuals had tried to rob the driver, then avoid paying him for the lift.
That prompted the driver to run after the group, authorities said. According to police sources, allegedly one member of the group allegedly took a swing at the victim, causing him to fall to the ground and strike his head on the pavement.
Officers from the 101st Precinct responded to the incident and found the cab driver lying in the street, with trauma to the back of his head.
EMS rushed the victim to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The group of suspects fled the scene in an unknown direction, police reported.
The NYPD on Aug. 17 released surveillance video and descriptions of the suspects.
Authorities say that Amos was last seen wearing a black shirt, black pants with yellow stripes down the side, and black and white shoes.
Police believe the other suspects are two teenage girls between the ages of 13 and 16.
Friends and family of Gyimah gathered on Aug. 14 to call for justice a day after the cabbie died in the Rockaways Saturday when a group tried to rob him.
“I am heartbroken, I don’t know how to move on without him, he was the backbone of our family,” said his wife Abigail Gyimah during a press conference in Woodside.
Kutin Gyimah, a Bronx resident, had joined the taxi cab business in 2009 after immigrating from Ghana, and fellow drivers remembered him fondly.
“He was always working and making us laugh in the break room. I will miss him,” said one yellow taxi driver, who didn’t give a name.
The mourners gathered outside his employer Big Apple Taxi on Queens Boulevard Sunday morning to call for people’s help finding Gyimah’s attackers.
The company, in a press release, offered a $5,000 reward for finding those responsible.
A GoFundMe to cover the costs of his funeral and help his family has already raised nearly more than $118,000 from over 1,000 donors.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
All calls are strictly confidential.
Additional reporting by Kevin Duggan, Lloyd Mitchell and Robert Pozarycki.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 8 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 19.
