Taxi Rage: Woman Punched For Trying To Charge Ride

NEW YORK (CBS) ― There have been a number of reports of cab drivers balking at customers who try to pay with credit cards, but a woman is accusing a cabbie of actually punching her after she tried to charge a ride.

Tamara Perez tells CBS 2 HD she still can't believe it happened.

The incident happened Tuesday after Perez ran to her East Village home to pick up some papers. Once in the cab, the 35-year-old realized she had no cash the pay the $10 fare. Instead, she pulled out a credit card, but the cabbie wasn't having it.

"He wouldn't let me use the card, he wouldn't press the button," she tells CBS 2. "I said, 'You have to press the button,' and he's like, 'No, no I don't know, I don't know how to use it.'"

Perez says the driver got out of the cab and told her to go get cash. She refused, said she wanted to use the machine and would tip well.

"I tried to walk past him and he pushed me back into the cab. I got up and told him I was calling my husband who is a professional boxer," she says. "I started dialing the phone and he said, 'I give you a punch in the mouth' and he turned around and he socked me in the mouth."

Perez tried to copy down the driver's license number, but mixed up the numbers as he took off. She's hoping police can track down the crooked cabbie.

"I want new york to find him and prosecute him," she says.

Perez called 311 and 911 after the incident and filed complaints.

"We haven't yet identified the driver, but when we do he will be suspended. It is an aberration," says Matthew Daus, Commissioner of the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

Just yesterday, the TLC announced it had launched an undercover operation in place to try and catch cabbies if they refuse to use the credit card machine. Now the NYPD will be getting involved, too.

"When she got out of the car there was some kind of pushing event that she described that we heard initially. Now the story is that she was punched which is an assault, and obviously we will investigate that as an assault," says Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

The TLC says you should be able to tell if a taxi's credit card system is working by whether or not the machine's display light comes on when you get in a cab. If a driver refuses to use it, call 311.