NEW YORK (PIX11) — The heartbroken widow of a cab driver slain in Queens spoke out on Sunday, calling her husband the backbone of the family.
Kutin Gyimah, a 52-year-old Bronx resident who was originally from Ghana, was fatally assaulted near Beach 54th Street and Arverne Boulevard in the Edgemere section of Queens 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, according to officials. He was attacked while confronting passengers who refused to pay for their ride, according to the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers.
Abigail Barwuah was surrounded by her four children — ages 3, 5, 7 and 8 — on Sunday as she remembered Kutin Gyimah. She said she does not know how she’ll go on without her husband.
“I’m lost right now,” she said through tears. “I don’t know what to do right now.”
She said he was a kind man. Kutin Gyimah’s operations manager at Big Apple Taxis remembered a gentle, hard-working taxi driver who rarely took a day off.
“A very soft-spoken, polite, gentle, man. You always had a good feeling talking with him,” Spyros Drakos, the operations manager, said at a news conference. “During the pandemic, he never stopped working. To me, he’s a hero, like a first responder.”
There is a $15,000 reward for the capture of those responsible for the death of Kutin Gyimah. There is also a GoFundMe page to help the family with funeral costs and living expenses without the husband, father and principal breadwinner for the Gyimah family.
Police are still looking for the suspects in the driver’s death. They’re reviewing surveillance video.
“Yellow cabs do not have cameras; they’re not required to have them,” Fernando Mateo, founder of the New York State Federation of Taxis said. “But we believe there is video from delis and buildings out there and Commissioner Sewell says they are very close.”
Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).