{"id":270221,"date":"2026-06-17T23:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T23:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/270221\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T23:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T23:29:12","slug":"cabbie-lucky-to-be-alive-after-knicks-maniacs-trashed-taxi-as-rapper-french-montana-steps-in-to-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/270221\/","title":{"rendered":"Cabbie ‘lucky to be alive’ after Knicks maniacs trashed taxi as rapper French Montana steps in to help"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cab driver whose taxi was destroyed in a Knicks mania-fueled melee last week<\/a> said he\u2019s \u201clucky to be alive\u201d after the mob ripped him from the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Noureddine Bitat, 59, says he has no plans to return to the chauffeuring gig following the ambush outside Madison Square Garden on June 11 \u2014 a beatdown he said he was handed just for driving through the wrong place at the wrong time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crowd came and they attacked him. They grabbed him out of the cab. They grabbed him by the neck. Someone punched him in his head,\u201d a translator explained for Bitat, of Algeria, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Noueddine Bitat is \u201clucky to be alive\u201d after a mob of Knicks fans pulled him from his cab and destroyed the car. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

The maniacs ripped him from the car and punched him before turning their ire on the vehicle. FreedomNewsTV<\/p>\n

\u201cThey shattered the windshield. They opened the front doors and even the trunks. They were yelling, \u2018Knicks in five! Knicks in five!’\u201d<\/p>\n

Bitat recounted the horrifying attack and the lasting mental and physical scars<\/a> he suffered at a press conference outside the New York Taxi Workers Alliance office in Long Island City.<\/p>\n

The cabbie of nearly three years was driving down Seventh Avenue at 36th Street around 12:30 a.m. on June 11 when the mob set their sights on his yellow car.<\/p>\n

Thousands swarmed the streets of Midtown in a celebration that turned violent after the Knicks rallied from a 29-point deficit to beat the San Antonio Spurs, 107-106. The Knicks then headed to San Antonio and clinched the championship on Saturday.<\/p>\n

After ripping Bitat from the car, the maniacs smashed the windshield and several tried to ignite it in flames in a shocking event captured in a viral video. <\/p>\n

Bitat\u2019s glasses were destroyed in the brouhaha and he suffered a diabetic attack, which landed him in the hospital, according to Bhairavi Desai, the president of the alliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next morning, it was hard for him to walk through all the dizziness,\u201d Desai said.<\/p>\n

The cabbie continues to battle back pain and vision problems, and is suffering \u201ca lot of trauma\u201d that is preventing him from returning behind the wheel. <\/p>\n

Bitat is too traumatized to return to the job, he said. GoFundMe\/Zachery Dereniowski and New York Taxi Workers Alliance<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s lucky to be alive. A lot worse could have happened to him,\u201d the translator said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just that from what happened, he couldn\u2019t believe doing a job like this could be so risky.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Taxi Workers Alliance helped establish a GoFundMe in support of Bitat, who otherwise doesn\u2019t have the means to support his wife and three kids back in Algeria. <\/p>\n

The fundraiser so far has raised $60,000, thanks in part to support from rapper French Montana.<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe to support Bitat has raised $60,000. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201c[The support] made him feel like he has another family here even though his own family [is not here],\u201d the translator said.<\/p>\n

At least one person was arrested in direct connection to the attack on Bitat, and another 56 people were detained that night for a smattering of charges, including assault on a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal mischief.<\/p>\n

Despite the horror, Bitat offered a positive message to New Yorkers ahead of the historic ticker tape parade slated for Thursday. <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to congratulate the Knicks for winning and more future victories like that, but he said he wants people to celebrate in a peaceful way, not the way that happened where his life was at risk,\u201d the translator declared.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe thanks God he\u2019s alive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cab driver whose taxi was destroyed in a Knicks mania-fueled melee last week said he\u2019s \u201clucky to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[23504,222,57,9,197,1104,56,63,65,64,5260,58],"class_list":["post-270221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-cabs","tag-madison-square-garden","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city-life","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-taxis","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}