Ninth for the year: in New York, an "epidemic" of suicides among taxi drivers

Early on the morning of March 23, a Lyft driver committed suicide after being found in the back seat of a car parked near a cemetery in Queens. This is not the first time New York City taxi drivers have committed suicide in recent years.

Фото: Depositphotos

The taxi driver, whose name has not yet been released by authorities, swallowed or inhaled some kind of “substance” while sitting in the back seat of his Hyundai Sonata, he writes. New York Post. He parked the car on Myrtle Avenue and 75 Street from the Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Glendale around 4 in the morning, police said.

The man who worked at Lyft since 2014 was declared dead at the scene. According to eyewitnesses, the police pulled him out of the car headfirst and laid on his back. His face was covered with white powder. He was wearing a black jacket, a gray sweater with a pattern, jeans, black socks and no shoes. A bottle of pills was found near the car.

This suicide was the ninth in a year committed by a hired taxi driver. Eight New York taxi drivers committed suicide because of debts in just one year. The last one was 58-year-old Roy Kim from Bayside, who on November 5 hanged himself in his house, using a belt for trousers, the city forensic medical service said. A month ago, the Uber driver Fausto Luna jumped onto the rails in front of the approaching train.

Many drivers blame the "suicide epidemic" on the rapid growth of companies like Lyft and Uber, which has negatively impacted the earnings of the city's taxi drivers.

Last November, drivers warned authorities that congestion fees on New York City taxi rides would lead to more driver suicides. According to Wikipedia, this refers to a "traffic congestion charge" levied on vehicles that are known to be diverted to certain congested areas in Manhattan's central business district.

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