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Jan 31, 2008 5:52 pm US/Central
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Police: Cabbie Attacked By Passenger With Hatchet
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
A
taxi cab driver was attacked by a passenger in North
Minneapolis early Thursday morning.
A dispatcher with Blue and White Taxi says Mohammed Farahid was attacked around
12:15 a.m. Farahid was robbed by a male passenger who then hit the driver with
an hatchet.
The dispatcher says Farahid had fled his cab, fallen down and broken his hand
when he was attacked. He was able to call for help.
Police said they were called to 24th
Street and Colfax Avenue North, and said Farahid and
the passenger had gotten into an argument before the attack.
The suspect, described by police as a black man in his late 20s, fled the
scene.
Farahid
suffered a broken arm and a large head wound. Police said it is fortunate the
attacker used the blunt end of the hatchet.
Farahid is awaiting surgery at North
Memorial Medical
Center in Robbinsdale,
where he was reported as being in fair condition.
Scott Salen of ABC Blue and White Taxi visited Farahid
in the hospital and said he is doing well but has at least 25 stitches in his
head.
Lt. Greg Reinhardt of the Minneapolis Police calls attacks "an occupational
hazard for cabbies" but he says this is one of the most unusual in recent
memory.
Police admit they don't have a good description of
the attacker. Unlike some other Twin Cities cab companies Blue and White does
not have cameras in their cabs.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)