March 2, 2020 By Allie Griffin
An Uber driver is clinging to life after being punched in the head by a passenger he picked up outside a Woodside strip club last month.
Mohammed Al-Gahaffi, 54, who remains in a coma, picked up a group of six people — including his attacker — in front of Privileged Gentlemen’s Club, located at 49-14 Queens Blvd, in the early morning hours on Feb. 5.
Al-Gahaffi got into an argument with the alleged perpetrator after he asked him to stop drinking alcohol in the back of his car as they were driving into Manhattan, police said.
The perpetrator — along with the group — jumped out of the Uber near East 62nd Street and 2nd Avenue and Al-Gahaffi stopped his car and hopped out as well. The passenger then punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground and fracturing the 54-year-old’s skull at around 4:25 a.m., police said.
The group ran off and police have since talked to one passenger, but are looking to question the other five passengers. The man believed to have assaulted Al-Gahaffi was last seen wearing a blue hoodie, according to police.
(NYPD)
EMS rushed Al-Gahaffi to New York-Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Medical Center following the attack and he was placed in a coma. He suffered severe head trauma and is currently listed in critical, but stable condition, police said.
Al-Gahaffi, a Yemeni immigrant, worked as a celebrity driver and then a yellow cab driver for years before he began working for the ride-sharing app.
He was trying to save money to get his 21-year-old daughter, who is a refugee in Ethiopia from the war-torn Yemen, to the U.S.
The Yemeni American Merchants Association and the NYS Federation of Taxi Drivers are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest of the people involved in the assault.
At a press conference Sunday to announce the reward, Al-Gahaffi’s nephew said his uncle was recovering slowly.
“He doesn’t deserve it because he’s been a great man to a lot of people,” his nephew, who shares the same name — Mohammed Al-Gahaffi, said.
His uncle has been in a coma for more than 25 days and suffered a fractured skull.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to hear his voice soon,” the younger Al-Gahaffi said.
At the press conference, the NYS Federation of Taxi Drivers (NYSFTD) criticized the NYPD for failing to put out information about the assault earlier and said drivers must be kept safe while just trying to make a living.
“We need to make sure that our drivers when they leave their home every morning, they can return home to their families,” said Fernando Mateo, a spokesperson for NYSFTD. “Today there is a lot of uncertainty.”
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 CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips.
Privileged (Photo: Google)
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17 Comments
That place should be closed down immediately. These are the types of people strip clubs attract to our neighborhood. My thoughts and prayers are with Al Gahaffi.
The passenger suddenly punched him in the face, knocked him over and fracturing his skull. How was a gun supposed to prevent that again? lmao
Not the first time this place is in the news.
Is not one single issue once in a blue moon, it is a weekly crime spot.
One bad apple ruined it for all of us regulars.
You could say bars, in general, bring “these kinds of people” to the neighborhood but many people (the vast majority) go to bars and strip clubs and do NOT get violent. This place is not in our neighborhood, it’s in a commercial/industrial area where people do not reside. There is no shutting it down because some bad people went there.
@marybeth Why because I’m right? JVB is always so quick to jump the bandwagon when it benefits him politically but doesn’t do the small things that don’t get media attention which matter the most in the neighborhood.
Yet another victim of the NYC’s nanny state anti gun laws. An armed driver would have been able to defend himself against these thugs.
NYC’s mayor and city council should be charged as accessories before the fact, co-perpetrators of this crime and any other like it.
Only criminals masquerading a government officials disarm citizens and make the helpless to crimes like this.
@Oscar these people were already in the cab before this incident happened. Having the right to refuse anyone would have made no difference.
Drivers should have the right to refuse service to anyone, in Any location, if they believe their livelihood is in danger. Bless this man, and pray for his recovery.
Anonymous- you’re a broken record with absolutely no savvy.
Let me guess..The police spoke with one of the girls, the one who had the UBER account. You need to raise the standards of the people you associate with..
Lesson to be learned.
Once again JVB where are you bro?
I’m sure the club knows these faces and how about finding out the credit card info from the uber call?!
I’m sure these punks will be caught soon!
This is awful
Prayers for his recovery and that they catch this heartless crew
We can shut it down and open Kabayan 2.
Is not the business that we need around.
Do we have to be more active and do a real life protest?
These business bring these kind of people to the neighborhood. What do we have to do to shut it down?