Surprise of the Year: New York City Cabbies are Foul-Mouthed

I’m sure this is going to be a shock: New York City cabbies have foul mouths. In fact, on October 8, 2007, like many other days, there was an “incident.” Zbigniew Sobczak, a cabbie, cut off fellow cabbie Malik Rizwan on the West Side of Manhattan, when neither had a passenger. Rizwan, in response, honked his horn at Sobczak. Sobczak responsed by jumping out of his cab and started to scream vulgarity repeatedly. In response, Rizwan called the police and accused Sobczak of assault.

An administrative law judge found Sobczak guilty of a lesser crime, verbal harassment, and recommended a $350 fine. However, on May 9, Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairman Matthew Daus increased the penalty to $1,000 and suspended Sobczak for 30 days. This is Daus’ attempt to clean up people’s opinion of New York City cabbies.