Shot livery driver told wife he was in Kuwait

New York Daily News ^ | February 9, 2004 | TONY SCLAFANI and BILL EGBERT

[sarcasm]

A livery driver with a mysterious personal life was seriously wounded yesterday in Queens, becoming the first livery hack shot on the job in more than a year.

Police have neither suspect nor motive in the 2:30 a.m. wounding of Michael Goldberg, 36, at 253rd St. and 147th Drive, in Rosedale. But the incident was even more puzzling to his wife, who said she had believed Goldberg was in Kuwait with his parents.

Kate Bontoyan, 52, rushed to her husband's side in the intensive care unit at Mary Immaculate Hospital, where he communicated by writing notes.

She said he went to his native Kuwait to be with his parents when the war with Iraq began. He called her daily, she said, purportedly from the Middle East.

Learning her husband was hiding his whereabouts from her left Bontoyan "shocked and scared," she said.

Bontoyan said her husband, a Sikh, had changed his name to Goldberg recently, but she would not say what his given name was.

Bontoyan, a nurse in the intensive care unit at Elmhurst Hospital Center, said the bullet entered her husband's chest on the right side near his armpit and lodged in his stomach, requiring surgery to remove it.

"He's stable," she said. "The operation was okay."

She said Goldberg wanted to quit driving a livery car, a job that has proven dangerous in past years.

Although Goldberg is the first livery driver shot in more than a year, as recently as 2000, 10 livery drivers were killed on the job, said Fernando Mateo, head of the New York Federation of Taxi Drivers.

Mateo credited security measures taken by the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, including requiring bulletproof partitions and security cameras, for the safety improvement.

[piasa]

Well... this is weird.

[piasa]

.

[texasflower]

Goodness. Nothing suspicious here.

[vikingchick]

Forgive my west coast ignorance....what's a livery driver?

[Free Trapper]

Islamic terrorist establishing a new identity as a Jew?

[Free Trapper]

Cab driver.

[Fledermaus]

Horse drawn carriage.

It also means an attendent in uniform, but it's mostly about horses.

[jocon307]

"Forgive my west coast ignorance....what's a livery driver?"

In NYC they are non-medallion cabs that largely serve the outer boroughs where yellow (medallion) cabs do not regularly cruise for fares. They are called "car service" and you can call for a pick up by phone. Their vulnerability to robbery comes from the fact that they are more often in bad neighborhoods than regular cabs.

[sarcasm]

There are two classes of taxis in New York - Yellow Cabs and Livery. Yellow cabs accept street hails while livery (supposedly) are reserved by phone.

[Cindy]

Yes that is weird. So is this one:

JIHAD WATCH.org (HERALD SUN.news.com.au): "TERROR SUSPECT'S WIFE BACKS JIHAD" (February 5, 2004) (Read More...)

[Fledermaus]

Ah, I guess they still use the old terms so I stand corrected. I assumed they were the horse drawn carriage drivers since livery was the term.

I see they just kept the name in NY from the old horse days to the horseless carriage days!

[vikingchick]

Thank you.

[vikingchick]

Thanks. I think we just call it taxi drivers out here.

[piasa]

You're right. That's weird.

[Cindy]

Yep.

[eccl1212]

Sikhs are not islamics.
Don't worship or obey the koran.
Dont worship mecca.

And are a religous group that follows "gurus" some who were named "buddha" and have a whole nother set of holy books, not the quran or bible.

They are a strange mix of a lot of stuff including hinduism.
Followers of the Dharma (destiny or dao?) similar to buddhists.

so no, NOT a muslim.
seems historically the sikhs and islamics are pretty much enemies.

the name change to goldberg, is almost funny however.
changing from a sikh to a jew inorder to escape crazy islamics or islamic haters, is almost funny.
almost

[Free Trapper]

Sorry,I'm not awake and didn't word that very well.

I was leaving the possibility open that he was already trying to pass as a Sikh rather than an Islamic.

I know-that was a far jump but I can't put anything past the Islamists anymore.Also,there wouldn't be many Sikhs living in Kuwait,would there?

Sikhs all carry the same name,IIRC. I doubt a true Sikh would change his name but I could easily be wrong.

One nut can have a number of identities established for different reasons. :(

[Free Trapper]

Still not awake but I Googled up just enough info to see that "almost all Sikh men have Singh in their names".

[Thinkin' Gal]

Bontoyan said her husband, a Sikh, had changed his name to Goldberg recently, but she would not say what his given name was.

This is the story from the wife (that he is Sikh). The same woman who thought he was in Kuwait. For all we know, his real name was Mohammed.

That said, this may be nothing more than a guy trying to escape his nagging wife. Maybe he thought the name "Goldberg" would repel her, and when that didn't work...