MIDTOWN — A yellow cab driver told an Australian passenger he “would have done a better job” than ISIS just a few weeks after the Paris terrorist attacks, and then said he wanted to blow up his taxi, according to documents submitted during his trial at the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.
Hisham Ahmed is facing a six-month suspension and $1,150 fine after allegedly making the threatening remarks to the passenger on Nov. 23, 2015, as first reported by the New York Daily News.
Ahmed, who is originally from Egypt and has been a taxi driver for about 20 years, asked aloud several times whether he should “blow up the taxi tonight,” after picking up the tourist just before midnight at 21st Street and Third Avenue, wrote New York City Administrative Law Judge Kevin F. Casey.
The driver also allegedly said he believed the Holocaust was a “fabricated historical event” and that “all people” were born Muslim.
The Australian man, whose name was not included in the administrative hearing report dated March 16, later told investigators he thought the Holocaust statements were “odd” and “probably inappropriate,” but weren’t “the end of the world.”
But when the driver later started talking about ISIS and blowing up his cab, the tourist responded, “Don’t blow up the taxi this evening.”
The passenger was unsure whether he should “bolt out of the cab and run,” and decided to stick out the 10-minute ride and not do anything erratic, according to court documents.
He finally got out the car after arriving near his hotel near 37th Street and Lexington Avenue.
The tourist then went back to his hotel room and called 911 to report the driver.
Police officers arrived at the hotel and, according to the tourist, said it would be too difficult to find the driver.
The passenger then went back to his room and reported the incident to the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
TLC investigators used trip sheet records to find the driver and spoke with Ahmed, who denied saying he wanted to join ISIS or blow up his taxi.
A neighbor also said she had known Ahmed and his wife for many years and he never threatened anyone or expressed interest in joining ISIS.
The TLC investigators then spoke with the NYPD in January and a detective also talked to Ahmed and “found that there was no threat.”
The judge determined that Ahmed’s behavior was “out of character” and that he had a good reputation for honesty and once returned a passenger’s wallet with “lots of cash in it.”
Ahmed reportedly has two weeks to respond to the judge’s recommendations.
