Cab driver booked with threatening tourist for a tip

Published: Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 6:36 PM     Updated: Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 11:21 PM

Michelle Hunter

The Times-Picayune

A Kenner cab driver was booked with extortion and false imprisonment for allegedly threatening a Texas tourist and refusing to let her out of the vehicle until she paid a 10 percent tip.

The victim, a 57-year-old woman from Bellaire, was staying at the Intercontinental Hotel in New Orleans on business. She took a Yellow-Checker Cab to the airport Friday at about 3:15 p.m. to fly home, according to a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office incident report.

The woman said she confirmed before entering that cab that she would be able to pay by credit card. But when she arrived at Louis Armstrong International Airport, the woman said, driver Sohail Kahn, 37, told her that in addition to the fixed $33 rate, he would be adding a 10 percent tip, the report said. She refused and demanded the driver process her card and get her bags.

The woman said she tried to get out of the cab, but could not because the doors were locked, the report said.

She said the driver cut off the engine and made a "grabbing motion" for her purse. He clenched his fist, waived it in her face and said, "You will pay me my 10 percent tip, or I will not let you go," the report said.

The woman said argued with the driver for about 30 minutes as the temperatures rose in the vehicle. She eventually called 911 on her wireless phone. When a deputy sheriff arrived, he noted the victim was crying hysterically, shaking and sweating.

Kahn initially told the deputy that the 10 percent tip was actually to cover the credit card transaction fee. But the deputy later confirmed that there are no such fees charged to passengers, and drivers are responsible for their own fees, the incident report said.

Kahn, of 3044 Kansas Ave., was booked with extortion, false imprisonment and simple assault. The New Orleans Taxicab Regulation Bureau also seized his permit, the report said.

LINK TO PHOTO

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/06/cab_driver_booked_with_threate.html