Is Assaulting a Taxi or Uber Driver a Felony in NY?

Not automatically. New York has no separate felony for assaulting a taxi, livery or app driver. The second-degree assault law, Penal Law §120.05(11), makes injuring certain workers a class D felony. Its list includes bus operators, train conductors, traffic agents, nurses and sanitation workers. Taxi, for-hire and app drivers are not on it (NY Senate, §120.05, text read October 12, 2026). Bills to add drivers were filed in each two-year session from 2017 to 2024, and none passed. We found no 2025–2026 version. Attacking a driver is still a crime. Police and prosecutors decide the charge from the facts, and one law does raise prison time for the most serious attacks on for-hire drivers.

What §120.05(11) covers today

Subdivision 11 protects people doing their jobs on the transit and public side: train operators, ticket inspectors, conductors, signal workers, bus operators, station agents and cleaners, bus and ferry maintenance staff, city marshals, school crossing guards, traffic enforcement officers and agents, prosecutors, sanitation enforcement agents, New York City sanitation workers, public health sanitarians, registered and practical nurses, and EMS paramedics and technicians. Injuring one of them on duty with intent to cause injury is a class D felony.

A cab or app driver is not on that list. The most recent version of the section on the Senate site is dated July 26, 2024.

The bills that keep coming back

The sponsor, status and earlier versions are on the A1840 bill page. If a new version passes, this page will change. Check the bill page before you rely on it.

The law that does name drivers: §60.07

Penal Law §60.07 is about sentencing, not a new crime. It applies when someone is convicted of a "specified offense" and the court finds the victim was operating a for-hire vehicle while providing for-hire service. The minimum prison term then goes up by three to five years.

• Specified offenses are serious violent felonies: attempted second-degree murder, first- and second-degree gang assault, first-degree assault, first- and second-degree manslaughter, first- and second-degree robbery, and some attempts.
• For-hire vehicle means a vehicle for five passengers or fewer that is a taxicab, a livery, or a "black car" dispatched from a facility certified under Executive Law article 6-F.
• The court can skip the increase if it finds on the record that it would be "unduly harsh" and that skipping it is consistent with public safety.

So the extra time is for the most serious attacks. If the attack is charged as a lesser crime that is not on the list, §60.07 doesn't apply.

About the "25 years" sticker

TLC requires taxis to display "ATTENTION: Assaulting A Driver Is Punishable By Up to Twenty-Five Years in Prison." In a cab with a partition, it goes above the braille plaque. Without one, it goes in a frame on the passenger headrest (TLC §58-32, item (r)). Green cabs have the same requirement. The sticker is a warning to passengers. It doesn't name a law, and it doesn't mean every attack carries 25 years.

If you are attacked

1. Get safe and call 911. In a taxi, green cab or livery car, turn on your trouble lights. They are the silent distress signal.
2. Make a police report and get the report number. How the case is charged is the police's and prosecutor's decision, not yours.
3. Save the video. In a cab, ask for the camera footage within days. It only has to be kept 30 days. See how to get taxi camera footage.
4. Tell TLC. TLC asks driver victims of verbal or physical attacks to report to inclusion@tlc.nyc.gov. Staff can connect you to the NYS Office of Victim Services (medical bills, counseling, lost wages), help with police reports and hate-crime complaints, and help NYPD gather evidence (TLC Driver Resources).
5. If you were hurt, start a workers' comp claim. See how much the Black Car Fund pays.

The complete first-hour plan is in driver assault: what to do. Some threats come by phone, not in the car. See scams targeting NYC drivers. More on the safety hub.

This page explains the law in general terms. It is not legal advice. If you are a victim or a witness in a criminal case, the prosecutor's office handles the charges, and a lawyer can advise you on a civil claim.