‘Drive, you stinking leftist’: Taxi passenger assaults driver as own daughter watches
70-year-old files police complaint after passenger with a toddler breaks his nose, lacerates his forehead in Tel Aviv
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A taxi driver in north Tel Aviv was brutally assaulted by a passenger on Sunday, with the latter beating the 70-year-old victim before fleeing the scene with his toddler daughter.
Dashcam footage provided to Hebrew media shows the suspect and his daughter getting into the car before he immediately proceeds to curse at the driver, claiming that he had not been waiting at the location he had submitted on the Gett taxi app. “Drive, you stinking leftist maniac. Drive!” the suspect is heard saying.
He continues to curse at the driver until the latter asks him to get out of his cab.
The suspect exits the vehicle, but leaves his back passenger door open, forcing the driver — Shlomo Yitzhaki — to get out and close the door, according to the footage.
Yitzhaki told Hebrew media that when he went around to the back of the car, the suspect was waiting for him and began to beat him violently, as the alleged attacker’s daughter stood meters away, crying and screaming in fear.
The suspect then picked up his daughter and fled the scene, leaving his child’s stroller behind.
מנפלאות ״הבשורה המתוקה״…
"סע יא שמאלני, סע";
"סע, סע יא שמאלני מנייאק, שרמוטה".אלו ״הפנינים״ שהוציא מפיו התוקף (על פי דיווח התקשורת) לפני שהוא תקף נהג מונית (שלמה יצחקי).
לדעתי יש קשר ישיר בין הסתה עדתית ופילוג לעם להתבטאויות כאלו.#פרצופה_של_המדינה pic.twitter.com/SVeNXwBdlU
— עו"ד עידן אטיאס | Idan Atias Adv (@Idan_Atias_Adv) August 21, 2023
Passersby approached Yitzhaki, provided him with water, and called an ambulance. Dashcam footage shows him returning to the car in apparent shock, with his face covered in blood. Magen David Adom medics arrived at the scene shortly thereafter and evacuated him to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for a broken nose and a forehead laceration that required stitches.
Yitzhaki submitted a complaint to the nearby Tel Aviv police station on Monday but there was no word from law enforcement regarding an arrest.
Channel 13 managed to call the suspect, who was not identified. He told the network that he should not have sworn at the driver and apologized for doing so. However, he claimed that Yitzhaki had tried to tase him and beat him with a baseball bat. Neither weapon was seen on the dashcam footage. Much of the interaction outside of the car was not visible on camera.
The Times of Israel Community.