A taxi driver repeatedly begged for his life when an armed customer refused to pay the fare before he was driven to his destination, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
“Are you pulling a gun on me, man?” the cabbie said in a surveillance video taken inside the taxi. “Please, man, don’t kill me. Don’t kill me, man. Don’t kill me.”
Nearly three months later, BSO arrested a suspect.
Omarion Samuel, 18, is facing seven charges including armed kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and firing a gun in public, records show.
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Samuel called the cab at about 1:20 a.m. on July 4 and was picked up in the 7800 block of Southwest Eighth Street in North Lauderdale, investigators said.
Samuel told the cabbie his name was “James” and he wanted a ride, but as the taxi driver explained he needed to get paid upfront, the passenger became angry, demanded another cab, and pulled a gun on the driver.
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“Sir, sir, I’m going to call you another cab, please,” the driver said. “Your cab is coming, please man, I don’t want any problems.”
“Turn around, turn around, turn around,” Samuel said. “Calm down.”
Samuel demands that the cabbie take him back to where he was picked up and then there’s a loud bang before Samuel gets out of the car, the video showed.
The driver repeatedly says to himself, “He pulled a gun on me. This is serious.”
At his first court appearance Friday morning, Samuel was ordered held without bond in the Broward County Jail.
The taxi driver's name was not released by the Broward Sheriff's Office.
