Tarrytown Police Department
Robert Mizell (above) allegedly ordered Aneudys Lendof into the vehicle’s trunk at gunpoint.
A terrified Bronx livery car driver thought his life was over when his passenger kidnapped him at gunpoint, said they were headed to Albany and made him get into the vehicle’s trunk.
After Robert Mizell, 27, allegedly ordered Aneudys Lendof to exit the Saw Mill River Parkway, pull into a parking lot in Westchester and hop into the trunk, the quick-thinking cabbie made his daring escape.
“I really felt he was going to shoot me,’’ Lendof, 34, told the Daily News.
“I thought I was going to die.”
Lendof was in the trunk for about five minutes on Thursday when he popped the lock on the trunk and decided to jump out before they got back onto the highway.
“I couldn’t jump if I was back on the Saw Mill,’’ he said.
“Then I got on my knees and prayed,” he said.
“When I jumped I figured, ‘This is going to be my last day alive,’ but I landed and rolled down a hill. I stayed calm, but I was very scared.”
Lendof, who has been driving for about four years, broke his left foot in the fall and underwent surgery.
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His brush with death began innocently enough when a man walked into DAT car service in the Bronx Thursday around 11 a.m. and said he needed a ride.
Lendof, who says he is careful when driving, felt nothing out of the ordinary.
“He looked normal,’’ Lendof said. “We have a lot of cameras there. I didn’t think someone would do anything if he’s on camera.”
Mizell wanted to go to Harlem — W. 142nd St. and Amsterdam Ave. — but as Lendof approached the Deegan Expressway he asked the driver if he knew where he was going.
Lendof repeated the destination aloud, but the suspect shook his head.
“Change of plans,” Lendof quoted Mizell saying. “You’re taking me to Albany.”
When Lendof turned around he said Mizell was pointing a .38 caliber revolver at his back.
Lendof said he kept his cool as he was forced to head north on the Saw Mill.
He was made to get off Exit 23 and pull over in the Tarrytown parking lot.
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After jumping from the moving vehicle, Lendof flagged down the first car he saw.
“I told him what happened and that I need help,’’ Lendof said. “He wouldn’t let me get in his car. He said, ‘I don’t know you.’
“But he called police for me.”
Police arrived quickly and started searching for the suspect, who turned around and headed towards Valhalla before doubling back towards the scene.
About a half-hour after police were called, the suspect was arrested, said Tarrytown Police Lt. William Herguth.
“He told the cops he didn’t know I was in the trunk,’’ Lendof said of the suspect. “He told cops he was lost, but I think he was looking for me.”
Mizell, who lives in the Bronx, was charged with kidnapping, gun possession and robbery, after allegedly taking the victim’s money and cell phone.
He was arraigned Thursday night and his being held without bail at the county jail in Valhalla.
Lendof, who is recuperating at Phelps Memorial Hospital in Tarrytown with his loving wife Catherine at his side, isn’t sure if he’ll return to driving after the harrowing incident.
“I just don’t know yet,’’he said.
rparascandola@nydailynews.com
Yahoo Local News – New York Daily News
http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=14192
via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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