The "not my baby back" cabbie who made headlines last year for his questionable Good Samartian act has now officially been charged with first-degree attempted rape. Klever Saliema is accused of forcing himself on a female passenger who had passed out during her cab ride home from Astoria to Woodside in Queens.
Saliema turned himself into police yesterday after some suspected that the 46-year-old livery cab driver had fled back to his native Ecuador. His lawyer Kevin Faga told reporters, "He didn't flee. He laid low. He was nervous, scared. He needed to understand how the process worked."
Faga defended his client against claims by the 23-year-old Irish waitress that she woke up to find Saliema on top of her, the lawyer saying that she was drunk and that the cabbie had to defend himself against her. Faga said, "She attacked him brutally. He has a lump on his head. She repeatedly beat him. He has two black eyes."
Saliema became famous after dropping an infant off in a firehouse last year, saying it was abandoned in his cab. Later it turned out that the baby was taken there as by Saliema as a favor to a friend as part of an involved plot.
Fernando Mateo of the NYS Federation of Taxi Drivers also accompanied Salienda to the precinct yesterday and spoke on his behalf as well. Mateo said, "He discredited himself last year, but if you look at the bottom line, he saved the baby's life. There are two sides to a story. This is the worst nightmare for a cab driver."
