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BBQ Fork-Wielding Rider Carjacks Livery Cab After Stiffing Driver: Police

By Gwynne Hogan | September 7, 2016 3:23pm
 The man told the driver to follow him to his grandmother's apartment when he couldn't pay, police said.
The man told the driver to follow him to his grandmother's apartment when he couldn't pay, police said.
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DNAinfo/Gwynne Hogan

WILLIAMSBURG — A passenger armed with a knife and a barbeque fork robbed a livery car driver of his cellphone — and his car — after stiffing him out of a $40 fare, authorities said.

The 41-year-old driver picked up the 19-year-old Angel Medina and another man in Corona on Aug. 31 and drove the men to Williamsburg, according to the NYPD.

The driver dropped off the first man on Manhattan Avenue about 5:30 a.m., and then drove Medina to Stagg Walk, police said.

The suspect told the driver he could fetch the fare from his grandmother's apartment, but when the cabbie followed him upstairs, Medina pulled a knife and a barbeque fork, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.

The young man robbed the driver's cell phone, debit card and keys, then drove off in the 2006 Lincoln Town Car, according to prosecutors.

The car was later recovered.

Police arrested Medina on Sept. 2, and prosecutors charged the man with robbery, harassment and grand larceny charges.

The judge barred him from going near the driver and set bail at $2,500. He was being held at Rikers Island, records show, and was due back in court Thursday.

Earlier this year, Medina pleaded guilty to assault charges in Manhattan after he attacked the mother of their young child, causing her bruised ribs and a fractured wrist, court records show.

Medina's Brooklyn Defenders attorney didn't respond to a request for comment.