Livery Cab Driver Praised For Bringing Robbery Victim To Hospital

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A livery cab driver on Staten Island is being called a hero after rushing a severely injured man to the hospital last Sunday.

Vikas "Ricky" Matta, 21, seen above, says he was driving in Port Richmond around 2 a.m. on September 16 when he saw a man who was bleeding heavily trying to flag down cars.

Police say the man had been robbed and attacked by three people.

Matta said he tried to keep the man calm and took him to the emergency room, where he was told the man received more than 300 stitches to his face.

"It was so much blood, it was like I didn't want him to make any type of words. But he was still on the phone, but I didn't want to bother him too much. I just wanted to get him to the hospital," said Matta.

When the cab driver was asked if he would respond the same way if he ever encountered this type of situation again, Matta said, "Of course."

"Most cab drivers, you see something like that, you don't know if you're going to get robbed or what the situation is. You just kind of want to call the cops and leave it alone," said livery dispatcher Eric Hatter. "He took it upon himself to help him out, bring him straight to the ER, not waiting for nobody. So yeah, I feel he's definitely a hero."

Police were still searching Sunday for the people who attacked the victim. Anyone with information on the case should contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS, or text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.