It was a rough ride that cab driver Genrikh Blinster got from a passenger in Fort Lauderdale on July 3
A ride turned into a ruckus for a cab driver in Fort Lauderdale when his passenger attacked and robbed him.
Surveillance video from inside the taxi shows driver Genrikh Blinster behind the wheel as his passenger pounces from the back seat and wraps his tattooed right arm around Blinster’s neck and practically leaps on the driver’s back.
The incident happened about 6: 15 p.m. July 3, according to Fort Lauderdale police.
Blinster, 68, picked up his fare on Northwest Seventh Street near Second Avenue.
The passenger, a dark-haired man with a trimmed beard who was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, first asked to be driven to Northwest 31 Avenue and 19th Street.
“As they arrived, the suspect changed his mind and asked to be driven to a secondary location, the 600 block of Northwest Second Street, ” said police spokeswoman Casey Liening,
It was there that the passenger attacked Blinster, grabbing his cellphone and grabbing cash from a front shirt pocket, Liening said.
The passenger then took off. Police later learned that he provided false contact information when calling for the taxi.
Blinster, of Pompano Beach, wasn’ t seriously hurt during the attack.
The grandfather of three who moved to the U. S. from the Ukraine more than 30 years ago told WSVN-Ch. 7 that he won’ t stop driving his cab because of the incident.
“Now, what am I going to do? Sit at home all day?” he told the station.
Blinster also said his attacker ended up dropping the $360 he snatched from his shirt pocket.
Fort Lauderdale police ask anyone with information about the attack to contact Detective Erik Kirtman at 954-828-6070. Tips can also be made, anonymously, to Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
