Slain Taxi Driver Was A 'Scrappy Kid' Found Killed By Single Shot To Head

By KIT KONOLIGE and JOE O'DOWD, Daily News Staff Writers
Posted: May 23, 1987

The United Cab driver killed with a single shot to the head yesterday morning was "a scrappy kid who wouldn't let people shove him around," said United vice president Bernie Goldberg.

"He was the kind of guy who would help somebody if he could," Goldberg said of Joseph Johnson, 29, whose body was found in his cab on Sansom Street near 59th at 8:45 a.m.

"If he had to interfere in a fight, he would do that, too," Goldberg said. "He was a big, tall, heavy-set guy who was never afraid of anything. Who knows - maybe that got him into trouble."

Goldberg said United Cab board members would discuss offering a reward for information about Johnson's killing when they meet Tuesday.

Johnson, whose address was not immediately known, had apparently been out driving all night, police said. He then returned to the cab company's garage at 59th and Market streets at 6 a.m., where he took out a second cab.

Night work was Johnson's preferred shift, Goldberg said. He said he believed it was unlikely that Johnson would have been going out with a cab for another shift after driving all night.

Neighbors on Sansom Street said they saw two unidentified men running from the cab at about 6:30 a.m., detectives reported. But no one called police until 8:45 a.m.

Johnson died of a gunshot wound of the head, according to an autopsy performed by the medical examiner's office.

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