On July 19th, in one of the busiest parts of NYC, taxi driver Saeed Afzal Butt, 61 years old, was viciously attacked by a group of five – all apparent strangers - not only without provocation, contact, or even exchange of words but minutes after he was attacked by two other people who had just fled the scene.

The group assault caused Mr. Butt swelling in his head and damaged his eyes from punches and kicks he suffered; the force of the assault was so ferocious it left the sides of the taxi dented and collapsed the front bumper of the car. When the assault started, Mr. Butt was standing outside his taxi to recover from an attack just minutes before the group assault. Two people on a scooter had damaged Mr. Butt’s taxi and littered the front seat with food and garbage. There was pie, gravy, and pieces of meat and salad – sticky food and liquids - all over the seat and on his face and his shirt and pants. His side mirror was broken off. When Mr. Butt stepped out of the car to shed the garbage off him and check the damage, the attackers assaulted him from behind. First it was three assailants and eventually it was five. Instead of stopping the punching and yelling, more strangers piled on. The group harassed him, and shoved, punched, kicked, and chased him around the taxi. Mr. Butt was left kneeling against his taxi, covering his head and face from kicks and punches.

They saw this 61-year-old man, a cab driver working to make ends meet, in shock from an attack, and their response was to kick him in the head and chest. It was still daylight. No one stopped them. The police, for their part, released two of the assailants straight from the precinct with a Desk Appearance Ticket and let the other three assailants go without an arrest at all. Mr. Butt, meanwhile, lay in the hospital with massive swelling and possible internal bleeding and blindness.

Saeed Afzal Butt was born in Lahore, Pakistan and migrated to the United States over 20 years ago. Since then, he’s raised two boys in NYC with his wife while driving a yellow cab. He doesn’t own the car or the medallion; he leases both from a garage. While Mr. Butt was in the hospital, his family had to recover the taxi and clean it out. It took them over three hours to wash the sticky food and liquids out of the seats from where their Father earns his living.

Mr. Butt is still in serious pain and is dealing with possible long-term damage to his eye. Please help us raise funds so Mr. Butt can have the recovery he needs.

https://pix11.com/news/son-of-beaten-cab-driver-speaks-with-pix11-news/