For the reason that publication of this story, the New York Taxi Employees Alliance and the Bronx rapper French Montana arrange a fundraiser for the driving force.
Noureddine Bitat went from the tip of a 13-hour shift behind the wheel of a yellow cab to being dragged onto the road by a mob within the wake of Wednesday night time’s win by the Knicks — then watched helplessly because the taxi was trashed.
The 59-year-old Algerian cabbie grew to become engulfed within the wild scenes that unfolded on the blocks north of Madison Sq. Backyard and between Fifth and Eighth avenues after Recreation 4 of the NBA Finals. That’s when rowdy revelers swarmed the leased 2026 Toyota Sienna because it headed east at thirty sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, shattering its windshield and meter and stomping on its roof and hood.
Cabbie Noureddine Bitat was heading residence to Queens when he was pulled out of a taxi and assaulted whereas stopped close to Madison Sq. Backyard after the Knicks comeback win within the NBA finals. Credit score: Courtesy of Noureddine Bitat
“I’m here only to make a living,” Bitat advised The Metropolis Reporter by a translator Friday. “It’s not nice for the fans, in their disappointed spirit, to act like they’re in the jungle and be dangerous for the population.”
The brutalized cabbie’s feedback got here hours earlier than police arrested greater than 60 folks in New York Metropolis because the Knicks took the NBA championship with a Recreation 5 win in San Antonio on Saturday night time. Vandals destroyed 5 faculty buses getting used as shuttles to MetLife Stadium for the World Cup, a 17-year-old was shot, a number of folks had been slashed or stabbed and 10 NYPD officers had been injured as tens of hundreds of followers flooded the streets, police officers mentioned.
Cabbie: ‘It Was Very Traumatic’
Sometimes breaking into tears, Bitat struggled to recount in Arabic the mayhem that broke out as followers exited The Backyard and merged with crowds within the streets.
Bitat had been on his means residence to Queens after ferrying a passenger he had picked up at LaGuardia Airport to Decrease Manhattan.
However he by no means made it previous thirty sixth and seventh, the place police stopped automobiles as crowds gathered.
“Too much, too much people,” he mentioned. “They opened the doors, even the trunk, then forced me to come out from the car when one guy grabbed me by the neck.”
Bitat, who suffers from diabetes, spent a part of Thursday being checked out at a Queens hospital after fainting whereas leaving his residence. A cabbie for simply over two years, he mentioned he now isn’t positive if he’ll drive once more.
“I’m thinking of quitting,” he mentioned. “Once I saw the cab, it was very traumatic.”
Cabbie Noureddine Bitat recounts being dragged from a taxi and assaulted close to Madison Sq. Backyard by a crowd following the Knicks come from behind win within the NBA finals, June 12, 2026. Credit score: Alex Krales/The Metropolis Reporter
The encounter showcased an unsightly facet of the Knicks’ 29-point comeback win over the San Antonio Spurs, with the NYPD taking 56 folks into custody, making 14 arrests and blasting the “incredibly reckless and dangerous behavior” that included folks leaping onto transferring automobiles, breaking right into a tractor-tractor and flinging its contents at police, climbing atop visitors lights and attempting to overturn Bitat’s taxi.
“I worried they were going to set fire to the car, they tried to tip it over,” he mentioned. “That’s when the cops came.”
In the course of the chaos, during which he was punched within the head, Bitat mentioned he stood off to the facet as he frightened about being penalized by the storage that had leased him the Sienna, a brand new wheelchair-accessible mannequin. He shot video of the harm along with his cellphone.
“They were yelling, ‘Knicks five! Knicks five! Knicks five!” he mentioned.
The top of the New York Taxi Employees Alliance credited Bitat for what she referred to as his “very impressive presence of mind” in reacting to the assault.
“In that mob scene, it could have really escalated if he did not keep his cool,” Bhairavi Desai, government director of the New York Taxi Employees Alliance. “He kept himself alive and safe, which I don’t think everybody can do.”
Midori Valdivia, commissioner and chair of the Taxi & Limousine Fee, mentioned she is extremely grateful that Bitat was not critically injured.
“There’s no excuse for the kind of behavior he was subjected to, and anyone with information related to those who committed this incident should reach out to the NYPD immediately,” Valdivia mentioned. “Our TLC drivers are some of the best ambassadors of New York City and should be respected as such.”
Bitat mentioned he doesn’t plan to rejoin the ranks of town’s almost 180,000 licensed yellow taxi drivers anytime quickly. So he’ll miss out on the prospect to ferry passengers throughout the World Cup, when greater than 1 million guests are anticipated to return to New York Metropolis for the monthlong match that’s holding eight video games simply throughout the Hudson River within the New Jersey Meadowlands.
Desai mentioned the taxi employees affiliation will information Bitat in submitting for employees’ compensation funds that may assist him with medical payments. NYTWA additionally intends to arrange a web-based fundraiser for him.
“That’s so he gets full medical service, including therapy for the trauma and see about other work,” she mentioned.
The taxi employees affiliation wrote in a social media put up that it believes “in justice and liberation for all.”
“This incident has nothing to do with the flag that was waved,” NYTWA posted to X.
The violence dampened the great emotions which have accompanied the Knicks run, with the group clinching its first NBA championship in additional than 50 years on Saturday night time.
“All New Yorkers felt like they were part of this one moment and just to see that come crashing down on us is really painful,” Desai mentioned. “The yellow of the cab should not make you a target for this kind of group violence.”
Bitat mentioned he is aware of subsequent to nothing about basketball, figuring out himself as an alternative as a “soccer man.” However he mentioned was conscious of the importance of the Knicks’ win.
“We’re all happy that the Knicks made it and that they won their third game,” he mentioned. “But don’t change it to a riot and destroying the public’s things.”
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