A livery cab driver stabbed into critical condition during a Bronx road rage clash yelled “I don’t want to fight you!” at the baseball bat-wielding attacker, prosecutors have revealed.
Osei Kusi slipped and fell to the ground moments before Darin Dominick allegedly plunged a knife into him during the crazed Nov. 26 confrontation. Domincik turned himself in to face charges Wednesday.
“The victim slipped and it was at this point while the victim is on the ground he feels a sharp object repeatedly striking his torso,” Bronx Assistant District Attorney Benjamin Black said during Dominick’s arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court Wednesday night. “Not once or twice. The defendant stabbed the victim eight times in the torso.”
Dominick, 58, is charged with attempted murder, assault and menacing. He was ordered held on $250,000 bond after being arraigned in Bronx Criminal Court.
The clash began about 2:30 a.m. as Kusi was finishing his late night shift as a livery cab driver. The 39-year-old cabbie was on his way home when Dominick braked in front of him, cutting him off, prosecutors said.
Kusi drove around Dominick’s vehicle. But then while Kusi was waiting at a red light Dominick rolled up behind him and exited his car with a baseball bat in hand, prosecutors said.
Dominick hit Kusi’s driver’s-side window with the bat and began yelling at him, according to court documents. The confused cabbie thought the attacker was demanding a ride and told him he was done driving for night, accoridng to court documents.
“I don’t want to fight you!” Kusi was recorded repeatedly yelling on two dashcam videos from his car before he was stabbed, prosecutors said
Dominick continued to order out Kusi out of the vehicle, with the victim eventually complying. That’s when Kusi slipped and fell and Dominick allegeldy stabbed him while he was down.
Leaving Kusi bleeding in the street, Dominick jumped back into his vehicle, made a U-turn and sped off, prosecutors said.
Kusi managed to get back into his Toyota and drove off. He also called a friend for help.
A passerby found the victim unconscious soaked in blood inside his SUV, which still had its motor running, in the middle of the street near Randall Ave. and White Plains Road.
Medics rushed him to Jacobi Medical Center in critical condition. His condition improved to stable after undergoing emergency surgery to treat stab wounds to his back and stomach, officials said.
He has been in and out of consciousness at the hospital and needed multiple stitches and staples to close his wounds, according to court documents.
“We see him and speak to him every day,” Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, told the Daily News Thursday. “We even secured some money for his medical bills. He’s still in the hospital but he’s recuperating.”
“He’s very happy about the arrest,” added Mateo, who called the attack “totally aggravated attempted murder.”
“We’ve asked the DA not to fumble this case,” he said.
Kusi’s uncle Samuel Cudjoe, 59, who is also a taxi driver, described his nephew as a peaceful hardworking man.
“He’s a very quiet guy,” he told The News last month. “Not a troublemaker at all.”
Tracking local surveillance cameras, cops managed to follow Dominick’s car back to the defendant’s home about three blocks away from the stabbing scene and quickly identified him as the suspect, according to court documents.
Dominick’s attorney, Michael Discioarro, said the suspect “denies any wrongdoing” and has been fully cooperating with authorities.
