Generous GoFundMe donors, many still giddy over the Knicks championship run, have nearly reached their goal in a fundraiser to help an immigrant cab driver whose taxi was demolished near Madison Square Garden last week during a raucous post-game celebration.
Cab driver Noureddine Bitat, 59, was beaten and dragged from the yellow cab he was driving just blocks away from the West Side arena by several rowdy and violent celebrants after the Knicks’ dramatic come-from-behind win last week over the visiting San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the Finals, cops said.
Bitat told a translator he was stuck in celebration traffic at W. 36th St. and Seventh Ave. when he and his car were attacked.
“The cop who was managing the traffic asked him to slow down and stop at the red light,” Noureddine Afsi, the translator, said as Bitat spoke in Arabic. “The crowd came and attacked him. They grabbed him out of the car. They grabbed him from the neck and someone punched him. They shattered the windshield. They opened the four doors, the trunk and they were yelling, ‘Knicks in 5! Knicks in 5!’”
Afsi said several women came to help the driver as he watched, helpless.
“The crowd was really wild and he was scared that maybe they were going to hit him more,” Afsi said. “There were some guys trying to set fire to the car and tip it over.”
Through the translator, Bitat thanked the good Samaritans who came to his aid, including rapper French Montana, who said he was appalled by a viral video of the attack and went online himself to help spread the word about Bitat’s plight.
“Somebody find him for me so we can help him get back on his feet,” posted Montana, whose “Ever Since You Left Me [Knicks Remix]” with rapper Remy Ma is one of the most popular team playoff anthems.
Montana got an assist from the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which issued a statement thanking supporters for their donations and for their assistance.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the GoFundMe page had raised more than $69,000 of its $75,000 goal.
“Thank you to everyone who has shown their care and solidarity with our member Noureddine Bitat, who was assaulted when the cab he was driving was vandalized outside MSG last week,” the taxi workers group statement read. “Our hearts are full and we are overwhelmed by every word and gesture that says cabbies aren’t invisible or alone — and our community has our back.”
Bitat has a wife and three children in Algeria, where he was an Arabic teacher for more than 20 years before he came to New York four years ago.
He has been a driver for two and a half years, he said.
Cops arrested Saul Vargas of Saint Cloud, Fla., charging him with criminal mischief for damaging the cab.
Two other men are being sought for the attack, cops said.
