An Arverne man was sentenced in Queens Supreme Court to ten years in prison on Tuesday for his role in the vicious attack on a taxi driver following a confrontation over an unpaid fare from Manhattan to Far Rockaway in 2022.
Austin Amos, 22, of Beach 56th Place, pleaded guilty in May to manslaughter in the first degree for the fatal beatdown that killed 52-year-old Kutin Gyimah, an immigrant from Ghana who settled in the Bronx, where he lived with his wife and four children.
According to the charges, on the morning of Aug. 13, 2022, Amos and Nickolas Porter were passengers, along with three girls under the age of 17, in a yellow minivan driven by Gyimah. When the group got out of the vehicle near the intersection of Beach 54th Street and Arverne Boulevard in Edgemere, they refused to pay for their ride. Gyimah attempted to pursue the group as they ran away from his taxi at around 6:24 a.m. Video surveillance footage shows that Gyimah managed to catch up to one of the girls and struggled with her. Amos then circled back and punched the driver multiple times, causing the victim to fall to the sidewalk. Amos, Porter and two of the girls then surrounded Gyimah, punching and kicking him repeatedly as he lay prone.
Gyimah attempted to stand up, but Amos punched him twice in the head, causing him to fall back and strike his head on the pavement. The entire group ran away from the scene, leaving Gyimah motionless on the ground.
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 following day.
“Kutin Gyimah was brutally beaten and left for dead by Austin Amos and his codefendants after being confronted by Gyimah when the group ran off without paying their cab fare,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. “I thank our prosecutors and the members of the NYPD who helped bring this defendant to justice.”
Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant sentenced Amos to ten years in prison, to be followed by five years post-release supervision. Porter, 22, of Hassock Street in Far Rockaway, pleaded guilty last October to attempted gang assault. He was sentenced in February to two years in prison to be followed by three years post-release supervision.
