As social unrest rages in New York City, a video surfaced on social media Tuesday, showing what appears to be an "undercover" police car that resembles a Yellow Cab NYC Taxi.
The video, first posted via Twitter handle @dertyduchess, is narrated by a passerby, who spots an "NYC cab cop car." The person went onto say, "this is the craziest shit I've seen." As the person walks by the vehicle, they pointed out how "someone" was being detained inside the cab.
THE NYPD IS DISGUISING AS TAXI DRIVERS AND TRICKING PROTESTERS THAT ARE TRYING TO GO HOME!!! SPREAD THIS AND BE SAFE pic.twitter.com/hc4uV3BqXJ
— emel BLM (@taxicabstruce) June 3, 2020
One Twitter user responded to the video by saying: "Cops in NYC pretending to be taxi drivers so they can trap protesters... I have never in my life seen or heard anything as SICK and TWISTED as this....," tweeted @hisnameiselie.
While there are no official reports that NYPD uses undercover cabs, Motherboard filed several requests to the NYPD through the Freedom of Information Act to examine the issue more in-depth back in 2015. What they found is that NYPD operated a small fleet of these cars back then. However, the fleet has grown to new taxi cab models, as shown in the video above, with what appears to be a new Toyota corolla.
A video from 2013 shows an NYPD undercover taxi in action.
As a note to rioting Americans, something we've written in the last several days, the lesson to be learned today is that while fleeing a protest or store that was looted in New York City -- hoping into a taxi for the great escape could result in an arrest.
