a TLC violation<\/a> \u2014 and something changed, she claimed. \u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cHe starts talking to me, asking me all these questions. Where are you going, what\u2019s your name, what do you do for work. I was trying to be courteous.<\/p>\n
The victim claims prosecutors didn\u2019t communicate with her about the case or inform her the driver would be allowed to plea down to a charge of disorderly conduct. Steven Hirsch<\/p>\n
\u201cAt some point he reaches behind and puts his hand on my leg. I moved it off and said please stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Bellebia didn\u2019t, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe does it again and starts putting his hand in my vaginal area,\u201d she alleged, recalling how she froze before trying to take a photo with her phone so she would have proof of what was happening.<\/p>\n
The driver, alerted by the camera\u2019s flash, snatched the device, according to court papers. Bartow said he began trying to delete her photos.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt escalated really quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
He eventually returned her phone, and Bartow tried texting and calling friends for help. <\/p>\n
The yellow cab had no partition or in-vehicle camera, the victim said in court papers. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n
\u201cI decided to leave a voicemail so this will record it,\u201d she said. \u201cI left a voicemail, it\u2019s basically me asking repeatedly, [saying] \u2018I don\u2019t have a picture of you please just take me home.\u2019 I was starting to get more and more scared. <\/p>\n
\u201cI started to beg him, \u2018Let me out!’\u201d she recalled. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to make him any more mad than he was. I was so scared he was gonna kidnap or kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pulled over on Division Street, a few minutes from her home, and let her out. She offered to pay for the ride, but when she didn\u2019t have cash, Bartow said the driver sped off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when I knew he did something wrong. My best friend was on the phone with me, I had to order a Lyft to get home. At that point I was super distraught,\u201d she said. \u201cI texted my friend the next day because I wanted to leave New York, because I was traumatized.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next morning, she went to police, Bartow said. <\/p>\n
Bellebia was unaware of the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit Bartow filed against him and Tranquil Taxi. The company could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI finished the problem from a woman,\u201d the Arabic-speaking hack from Bay Ridge told The Post, sharing paperwork from the criminal case showing it had been sealed. He then called a friend to translate, who quickly declined further comment on his behalf.<\/p>\n
The charges in the alleged Dec. 12, 2024 incident are unclear. The case has since been sealed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is this a problem for you \u2026 my case is finished talk to my lawyer,\u201d Bellebia said when reached for comment a second time, hanging up when asked if he was in the country illegally.<\/p>\n
The charges in Bartow\u2019s case were not bail eligible, a Manhattan DA spokeswoman said, adding the driver had no prior convictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurvivors deserve clear communication through the course of a prosecution, and we have reached out to the survivor to apologize for falling short of that in this case,\u201d the spokeswoman added. <\/p>\n
The DA\u2019s office is legally barred from sharing information about the sealed December 2024 arrest, they noted.<\/p>\n
Bartow said she\u2019s been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder since the incident. Courtesy of Maile Bartow<\/p>\n
The cabbie\u2019s license was suspended and he was off the road from December 2024 until March, when it was reinstated, according to a source. <\/p>\n
Cabs are required to have either a partition or a camera system, but could be exempt if they have an in-vehicle camera, trouble lights or a cell phone with emergency dialing, the city Taxi and Limousine Commission said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTLC takes reports of driver misconduct seriously, and all instances should be reported to NYPD and 311 immediately to ensure bad actors can be taken off the road \u2013 and ensure it is permanent,\u201d the spokesman said, noting the agency cannot take action on its own unless the public files complaints via 311. <\/p>\n
The agency had no record of a 311 complaint from Bartow, and said a second person complaining about Bellebia did not respond when TLC tried to contact them.<\/p>\n
\u201dThe ordeal suffered by Ms. Bartow is every woman\u2019s nightmare,\u201d said Bartow\u2019s lawyer John Buza. \u201cWe are proud of her bravery in speaking up and we will do everything within our power to get justice for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bartow moved to Nashville about six weeks after the incident, but said she called the DA\u2019s office repeatedly for updates. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn January they had me sign a deposition. \u2026 I asked multiple times if there was an update. They never told me anything. Then they gave me the wrong spelling of his last name. I found out in September he was conditionally discharged,\u201d she claimed.<\/p>\n
Bartow, who said she\u2019s been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and suffers from flashbacks and night terrors, is seeking unspecified damages under the state\u2019s Gender Motivated Violence Act. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is already such a horrible process for a victim,\u201d she said of the lack of communication from Bragg\u2019s office. \u201cThe fact someone did this \u2026 and he\u2019s still driving a taxi is ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He\u2019s hell on wheels. An Algerian immigrant NYC cabbie driving without a partition or a camera allegedly assaulted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[3015,357,23504,2850,75,84,83,57,9,24,63,5161,58],"class_list":["post-40521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-alvin-bragg","tag-assaults","tag-cabs","tag-lawsuits","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-sexual-assaults","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40521","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=40521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}