A taxi driver is recovering at a Bronx hospital after he was seriously injured in a stabbing in the borough early Wednesday, police said.
NYPD officials said they received a 911 call about an assault near Randall Avenue and White Plains Road in Clason Point around 2:30 a.m. When officers arrived at the scene, they found the 39-year-old driver unconscious with stab wounds to his back and lower abdomen.
First responders took him to Jacobi Hospital, where he was undergoing emergency surgery, officials said. He was driving a Toyota with New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission plates, according to police.
The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers identified the driver as Osei Kusi, a Bronx man with family in Ghana, according to spokesperson Fernando Mateo. The organization said it’s offering a $5,000 reward for information that could lead police to the assailant.
“This was an attempted murder and a danger to every New Yorker,” Mateo said in a statement. “Someone out there knows something and must come forward.”
The federation said police were working to download video from Kusi’s car in hope of identifying the person who attacked him.
Kusi served in the military in Ghana and came to the city about eight years ago, his uncle Samuel Cudjoe told Gothamist by phone Wednesday. Kusi first took a job in a restaurant in Little Italy, but Cudjoe, who said he spent 30 years driving a taxi himself, inspired his nephew to switch careers.
Cudjoe said the worst thing that ever happened to him during his decades as a taxi driver was an attempted robbery, and he was shocked to hear Kusi had been violently attacked.
“I feel bad because he never argue with nobody,” he said, noting his nephew never expressed concerns about safety on the job.
Cudjoe also said Kusi worked for a private taxi company, which would call him when a new reservation came in.
“They don't pick people from the street,” Cudjoe said, adding that Kusi has a wife and child in Ghana. “So I don't know why this thing [happened] to him.”
NYPD officials said they were looking for anyone who witnessed the incident and encouraged members of the public to call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
Felony assaults in the 43rd Precinct, which includes the areas around Westchester Avenue, Castle Hill Avenue, White Plains Road and Parkchester, are about level with their number at the same point last year, police data shows. There were 719 felony assaults through Nov. 23 this year, compared with 713 in the same timeframe in 2024.
This is a developing story based on preliminary information from police and has been updated with additional details.
