TAXI NIGHTMARE
TAXI NIGHTMARE
COED KILLED FLEEING CRAZED DRIVER: PALS
By JOHN MAZOR, C.J. SULLIVAN and LEONARD GREENE
June 12, 2006 -- A terrified coed scrambled to get out of a careening taxi yesterday - only to be clipped and killed by another cab after a horrifying high-speed ride along Manhattan's West Side Highway, friends of the victim said.
Danielle Ricco, 20, was sharing a taxi with three girlfriends after a night out when the cabby, Hassan Afzal, 20, began driving like a madman through Manhattan's Meat Packing District shortly after 2 a.m., according to at least one other passenger in the car.
Afzal was trying scare the girls because they had complained about the loud rap music he was playing, according to the passenger.
As the friends screamed, Afzal lost control, went over the divider into the oncoming lanes, and hit a building. Ricco, who was trying to escape through a window, was sent flying - and was hit by another cab that had swerved to avoid the runaway taxi, her friends said.
"We're all distraught, we're all devastated," said Danielle's father, Richard Ricco, 46, as he stood in the back yard of the family's Staten Island home. "I was exceptionally proud of my daughter. She was a happy vibrant person. She didn't deserve for this to happen."
He said his daughter was a hospitality major at Pace University and was about to start an internship with Disney in Orlando.
Sisters Enza, 21, and Anna Sallustio, 16, who were in the cab's back seat, were injured.
Anna was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition, while Enza was fighting for her life with head injuries at St. Vincent's Hospital downtown.
Amy Vallarelli, 20, a fourth passenger, was in stable condition at Bellevue.
John Sallustio, 48, said his daughter Anna told him that the driver had started acting bizarrely and belligerently before the crash.
"That anyone could have survived is a miracle," he said after viewing the accident scene, where the roof was sheered off one taxi and one of Ricco's white sandals lay beside a wrecked car.
Sallustio said the group of three Pace University students and Anna were in the taxi heading south on the West Side Highway to drop off Amy and Danielle at the Staten Island Ferry terminal before going to Brooklyn through the Battery Tunnel.
Police said Afzal lost control of the cab and hit a cement dividing wall before crossing the northbound lane and hitting the building at 340 West St. According to cops, a second taxi, traveling northbound, swerved to avoid the cab and hit Ricco.
Police said she was ejected from the cab, but Anna told her dad that her friend had desperately tried climbing out of the speeding car, and that they all were trying to escape before the crash.
"He was terrorizing them," Sallustio said. "It was no fault of these girls. They made the wrong choice to get in his cab."
Afzal was listed in serious condition at Bellevue with severe head injuries.
He passed an alcohol test at the scene, officials said. He was not given a summons and is not facing any criminal charges at this time, cops said, but their investigation is continuing. Officials could not confirm the passengers' stories.
The other cabby was not hurt.
Sallustio said he and his wife, Francesca, received the news about the crash at around 4 a.m., and arrived at St. Vincent's not knowing whether their daughter had survived.
There, they watched as Ricco's mother got the news no parent should have to hear.
"You shouldn't have to bury your child," Sallustio said.
Additional reporting by Jaime Schram and Stefanie Cohen
john.mazor@nypost.com
COED KILLED FLEEING CRAZED DRIVER: PALS
By JOHN MAZOR, C.J. SULLIVAN and LEONARD GREENE
June 12, 2006 -- A terrified coed scrambled to get out of a careening taxi yesterday - only to be clipped and killed by another cab after a horrifying high-speed ride along Manhattan's West Side Highway, friends of the victim said.
Danielle Ricco, 20, was sharing a taxi with three girlfriends after a night out when the cabby, Hassan Afzal, 20, began driving like a madman through Manhattan's Meat Packing District shortly after 2 a.m., according to at least one other passenger in the car.
Afzal was trying scare the girls because they had complained about the loud rap music he was playing, according to the passenger.
As the friends screamed, Afzal lost control, went over the divider into the oncoming lanes, and hit a building. Ricco, who was trying to escape through a window, was sent flying - and was hit by another cab that had swerved to avoid the runaway taxi, her friends said.
"We're all distraught, we're all devastated," said Danielle's father, Richard Ricco, 46, as he stood in the back yard of the family's Staten Island home. "I was exceptionally proud of my daughter. She was a happy vibrant person. She didn't deserve for this to happen."
He said his daughter was a hospitality major at Pace University and was about to start an internship with Disney in Orlando.
Sisters Enza, 21, and Anna Sallustio, 16, who were in the cab's back seat, were injured.
Anna was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition, while Enza was fighting for her life with head injuries at St. Vincent's Hospital downtown.
Amy Vallarelli, 20, a fourth passenger, was in stable condition at Bellevue.
John Sallustio, 48, said his daughter Anna told him that the driver had started acting bizarrely and belligerently before the crash.
"That anyone could have survived is a miracle," he said after viewing the accident scene, where the roof was sheered off one taxi and one of Ricco's white sandals lay beside a wrecked car.
Sallustio said the group of three Pace University students and Anna were in the taxi heading south on the West Side Highway to drop off Amy and Danielle at the Staten Island Ferry terminal before going to Brooklyn through the Battery Tunnel.
Police said Afzal lost control of the cab and hit a cement dividing wall before crossing the northbound lane and hitting the building at 340 West St. According to cops, a second taxi, traveling northbound, swerved to avoid the cab and hit Ricco.
Police said she was ejected from the cab, but Anna told her dad that her friend had desperately tried climbing out of the speeding car, and that they all were trying to escape before the crash.
"He was terrorizing them," Sallustio said. "It was no fault of these girls. They made the wrong choice to get in his cab."
Afzal was listed in serious condition at Bellevue with severe head injuries.
He passed an alcohol test at the scene, officials said. He was not given a summons and is not facing any criminal charges at this time, cops said, but their investigation is continuing. Officials could not confirm the passengers' stories.
The other cabby was not hurt.
Sallustio said he and his wife, Francesca, received the news about the crash at around 4 a.m., and arrived at St. Vincent's not knowing whether their daughter had survived.
There, they watched as Ricco's mother got the news no parent should have to hear.
"You shouldn't have to bury your child," Sallustio said.
Additional reporting by Jaime Schram and Stefanie Cohen
john.mazor@nypost.com
posted by Walking Contradiction at 6/12/2006 05:49:00 AM
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