ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – A renegade cab driver now faces hate crime charges after reportedly attacking a man for being white. Mahad Abdinoor Abdi is the same suspect we exposed in a FOX 2 report after witnesses said he threatened to decapitate police officers.
These are extremely rare charges because prosecutors say hate crimes can be very hard to prove. In this case, according to this probable cause statement, the victim reports that Abdi attacked him Wednesday only because the victim was white.
The cab commission revoked his license after Abdi reportedly threatened to chop the heads off police officers. He is already facing assault charges for threats. Abdi now faces two hate crime charges – property damage and assault motivated by discrimination.
Court documents say the victim did not know Abdi. He was sitting on the tailgate of his truck when Abdi put him in a headlock and said. “He wanted to kill the victim because (he) was white.”
In July, we followed Abdi for 45 minutes, in his unauthorized cab, and tipped off cab commission investigators we were following him. Based on our tip, they stopped him and stripped his cab plates.
Abdi drove off that day, without plates, but with the unauthorized Wilson taxi logos remaining. It`s unknown if he`s still driving that vehicle today.
The latest reported assault happened within a mile of where we first followed Abdi in his unauthorized cab. He faces the property hate crime charge because the victim reported that he later watched Abdi slashing the tires of his truck.
He’s now locked up on a $15,000 bond.
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