A young man is in a coma because a crazed cabby wanted to save $30, prosecutors say.
Hit-and-run taxi driver Mohammed Azam ran over passenger Anthony Loreto Jr. outside a Midtown police station after refusing to take him and his pals to The Bronx because the trip would have cost the hack $30, the Manhattan DA said yesterday.
Azam feared that the trip to the outer borough would make him late getting back to his cab depot for his shift change and that he’d have to pay a $30 fine, authorities said.
So, instead of obeying the law and taking Loreto and his three pals where they wanted to go, Azam power-locked his doors, threw the car in reverse and peeled off so fast that Loreto and another friend ended up on his hood, according to court papers.
Loreto, 22, remains in a medically inducted coma at New York Hospital.
Azam, 27, was held in lieu of $100,000 bail.