Worst Cabby in NYC - 90 Violations, 4 Arrest warrants


New York - He's hell on three wheels.

Seydou Kone, 21, is the worst pedicabby in New York City -- racking up nearly 90 violations this year by his own admission and four open arrest warrants for failing to pay tickets.


The tourist-toting tricyclist spends as much time in Manhattan Criminal Court as he does riding amok in Central Park.

"I got a court day Monday, Friday and next Friday, too," Kone told The Post, while parting a sea of shoppers at the Columbus Circle holiday market with his pedicab.

The dangerous driver -- licensed by the Department of Consumer Affairs since April -- admits to blowing red lights, failing to signal, disobeying traffic signs, blocking crosswalks and even riding on sidewalks.

Inexplicably, he still has a city license to drive a pedicab.

If he drove a yellow cab, the Taxi and Limousine Commission would have already yanked his privilege.

The TLC suspends a hack license if a cabby receives 6 points -- equal to two moving violations -- in 15 months, and it revokes it if a driver accumulates 10 points in that time frame.

The DCA says it yanks licenses on a discretionary basis, but the agency was blind to the volume of Kone's misdeeds and could not explain to The Post why he continues to roll.

The renegade rider said he's appeared in court to answer 56 summonses that police and parks officers slapped him with this year -- and paid $700 in fines.

"I think I have 22 more at home," he said.

The Post found records of 31 summonses in Manhattan Criminal Court dating to 2009, and only $200 paid in fines. He also has four active warrants for being a no-show in court.

Officers have repeatedly caught the cycling menace in Central Park.

In July, officers ordered him to scram from a restricted area in front of the Boathouse. According to court documents, Kone bizarrely mouthed off to the officers, "They will go to see God tomorrow."

They slapped him with disorderly conduct on Aug. 8 for scaring a female passenger.

"He grabbed [her] purse and stuffed a $5 bill in her purse without her permission out of spite. [She] feared for her safety," an officer wrote.

Kone also crowns the Environmental Control Board's list of repeat offenders with 10 violations, all issued by the Parks Department.

The driver was a no-show at those hearings, and hasn't paid a cent on the nearly $1,500 he currently owes in ECB fines.

"Fifteen hundred dollars?" he told The Post. "To be honest, I didn't appear the day I [was] supposed to appear. I have school. I have to go to the criminal courts."

Despite his own pedicab confessions and the pink mountain of tickets against him, Kone remains defiant.

"Sometimes the cops like to give out the ticket. We don't do anything," he said. "It's not only me. It's pedicab drivers."

Last weekend, as Midtown sidewalks teemed with tourists, The Post observed the Manhattan man pedaling his rented pedicab along Sixth Avenue, near 48th Street, looking for fares.

He skirted the idling holiday traffic by veering into another lane without using a blinker, then cut in front of a vehicle. At 49th Street, he stopped in the crosswalk to lure passengers, exacerbating a traffic jam. Police gave him a warning at 50th Street but didn't ticket him.

Kone's been plaguing Central Park and city streets since 2007, when he moved to New York from Mali. He obtained a $35 DCA license this year, although city law mandated that drivers register for the permits by November 2009.

Between January and October 2010, the NYPD issued 1,750 summonses to the city's 1,478 pedicab drivers. The Parks Department issued 727 more, and the DCA issued two.

This year, the DCA suspended two operators' licenses after the pedicabbies threatened public safety, and now the agency is considering the same for Kone.

"[We're] reviewing the Environmental Control Board's decisions to determine if this driver's license may be revoked or suspended by DCA's Administrative Tribunal," a DCA spokesperson said.

NY Post

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