Salomon Alcantara was beaten and slashed in his head and face by a man who had just completed a round trip fare with him.
The attack occurred at about 4 a.m. in front of the Marlboro Projects at 2331 West 11th Street.
"Right now, I'm scared...I mean, I do this myself, and all I can say thank god, he's alive," said Maritza Alcantara, the victim's wife.
She knows the worry all too well, because her 49-year-old husband, drives the overnight shift.
She drives their car, during the day but the car has no partition. Police say it was 4 am Sunday when Aalcantara had picked up an illegal street hail and was returning with his passenger, to The Marlboro Houses on West 11th street in Gravesend.
"He did not want to pay...he told me to give him all the money that I had. He came to the front of the car and turned off the car," said Aalcantara.
He says he got out and ran but it was too late. The suspect hit him and then slashed him.
"And as you can see, they almost got him in the neck. If this cut would've been a few inches down, today, we would've been making arrangements for his funeral," said Fernando Mateo, New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers.
The car has a camera, but it appears, the camera's storage was full. Alcantara spent a night in Lutheran Hospital getting stitches.
He is scared to go back to overnight driving and he and his wife hope the suspect is caught.
