Woes That Led To NYC Taxi Driver's Suicide Detailed In New Report

NEW YORK, NY — Nicanor Ochisor and his wife, Helen, barely saw each other in their daily routine. She would reportedly drive their yellow taxi in the morning, then he would take over in the afternoon and not return until she was asleep.

That went on until Nicanor Ochisor hanged himself in his Queens garage in March. A report published in The New York Times on Tuesday details how pressures from ride-hailing apps like Uber drove the Romanian immigrant to suicide, leaving behind a widow, a son and a 7-month-old grandson.

"It depressed him, it irritated him, it probably angered him — maybe all three," Gabriel Ochisor, Nicanor and Helen's son, told the Times. “It was definitely a factor. Otherwise, we can’t piece together any other factor."

Ochisor was one of four professional drivers who killed themselves in four recent months. Cab drivers and industry advocates blame their plight on the exploding app-based ride-hailing industry, which lawmakers are now trying to cap.

Nicanor Ochisor was angry in the weeks leading up to his death, according to the Times — he went to a protest at City Hall, an unusual step for the normally quiet man.

"He was mad at the politicians," Gabriel Ochisor told the Times. "He was mad at Silicon Valley and all these big shots that have billions of dollars. You’re trampling over the little guys that invested in something and wanted to have some exclusivity, as they were told when they bought the medallion."

Read the full New York Times report here.

(Lead image: Nicanor Ochisor, a taxi driver from Queens, committed suicide in March. Photo courtesy of GoFundMe)