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The 20-year-old man suspected of delivering the fatal blow to a Queens taxi driver in a caught-on-video gang attack is a robbery recidivist with an extensive arrest record, law-enforcement sources said Friday. 

Austin Amos has been busted 10 previous times, including for robbery, sexual misconduct and domestic violence offenses, and he’s listed by the NYPD as a “robbery recidivist,” sources said. Three of the arrests are sealed. 

The Queens man was charged with manslaughter and gang assault Thursday after he and a group of three buddies allegedly killed cabbie and dad of four Kutin Gyimah on Saturday morning after skipping out on a taxi fare.


  Amos, in addition to Nickolas Porter and a 15-year-old girl, have been charged for the incident.
 Amos, in addition to Nickolas Porter and a 15-year-old girl, have been charged for the incident.

  Austin Amos was arrested for allegedly attacking cabbie Kutin Gyimah.
 Austin Amos was arrested for allegedly attacking cabbie Kutin Gyimah.

  Amos was charged with manslaughter and gang assault Thursday.
 Amos was charged with manslaughter and gang assault Thursday.

Nickolas Porter, 20, and a 15-year-old girl have also been charged in connection with the incident, police said. Another teen girl is yet to be apprehended, prosecutors said.

At their Friday night arraignments in Queens Criminal Court, Amos was remanded without bail, and Porter was ordered held on $75,000 bail, according to a court clerk.

Before Thursday’s charges, Amos was last busted in February 2020 for fare evasion and in January of that year for armed robbery, law enforcement sources said. 

In July and October 2019, he was arrested twice for violating an order of protection, and that February, he was charged with sexual misconduct and robbery, sources said. All of the charges stemmed from domestic violence-related incidents. 

Amos is named in 12 domestic incident reports, including 11 in which he is named as the aggressor, sources said. 

Following the 2019 arrests, Amos, who was a minor at the time, took a conditional plea at the end of the year that required him to undergo counseling, remedial education and probation, court records show. He completed the requirements and the charges were later reduced to disorderly conduct, records say.

The dispositions of the other arrests weren’t immediately clear.  

Early Saturday morning around 6:30 a.m., Amos, Porter and three teen girls hailed a yellow cab driven by Gyimah, 52, and refused to pay and took off running in different directions when he dropped them off near Beach 54th Street and Arverne Bouelvard, prosecutors said.

Gyimah ran after the group on foot and caught up to one of the teen girls, the suspect who is yet to be apprehended. Footage shows the two getting into a struggle, leading Amos to allegedly jump in and punch Gyimah multiple times, knocking him to the ground, prosecutors said.


  Amos, Porter and the teen girl were among five taxi passengers who allegedly attacked Gyimah.
 Amos, Porter and the teen girl were among five taxi passengers who allegedly attacked Gyimah.

  Fernando Mateo joined the family of slain NYC cab driver Kutin Gyinah, wife Abigail Barwuah and their four kids outside their Bronx home. Matthew McDermott Fernando Mateo joined the family of slain NYC cab driver Kutin Gyinah, wife Abigail Barwuah and their four kids outside their Bronx home. Matthew McDermott

Amos, Porter and two of the teen girls then surrounded Gyimah and proceeded to kick and punch him as he lay on the pavement.

When the cabby regained his footing and stood up, Amos delivered two final blows to Gyimah’s face, causing him to fall back and smack his head on the pavement where he stopped moving, prosecutors alleged.

The group then took off, leaving Gyimah to die, prosecutors allege.


  Kutin Gyimah leaves behind a wife and four kids. DCPI Kutin Gyimah leaves behind a wife and four kids. DCPI

  Gyimah’s wife described him as “a good man.” Facebook/Kutin Gyimah Gyimah’s wife described him as “a good man.” Facebook/Kutin Gyimah

While five people were part of the group, only Amos, Porter and two of the teen girls participated in the attack, prosecutors said. It’s not immediately clear if the fifth passenger is being sought in connection with the incident.

“My husband was a good man. He was everything we had. … He was the only one I looked up to, and now his life has just been cut short just like that,” Gyimah’s wife, Abigail Barwuah, said at a press conference at her home Thursday. 

Barwuah urged the remaining suspect to turn themselves in. 

“They’re gonna be caught,” she said. “Wherever they are, even if they are not caught by man, God is going to bring them in.”

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