The 42 year old father of four was shot to death late Sunday night near Wales Avenue and 147th Street.
A good father a hard worker and a very good husband is how a distraught Natalie Espinosa described her beloved Jose today.
Pena Segura apparently responded to his last official call from a Kiss dispatcher at 9:47 Sunday night. Thirty-five minutes later he was dead, shot in the head. Investigators believe the suspect, who was taken into custody hours later, had hailed him on the street.
With the support of Pena's grieving family and fellow livery drivers, advocates are demanding better protection and increased respect for those they say provide another form of mass transportation in many city neighborhoods. "How much can they take from a cab driver? 50 dollars? 10 dollars? 80 dollars?" said Fernando Mateo of the NYS Federation of Taxi Driver.
Many drivers told us fear has become a constant companion on the road.
"I think somebody have to do something. Somebody have to do something. Everybody driving a taxi, it's really a hard job," Patricia Valerio said. The suspect has been identified as Benny Delgado, 31, of the Bronx. He was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Last Monday, another cab driver, 46-year-old Ndiaye Amadau, was fatally shot in the chest in his car in the Bronx. Police haven't announced an arrest in that killing.
The fatal shootings come 3 1/2 months after cab driver Roberto Pinta, 37, was shot three times in the back during what police said was a failed robbery attempt by a passenger. A man was indicted in the May 10 shooting.
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WEB PRODUCED BY: Bill King
NEW YORK AND TRI-STATE AREA NEWS
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