Early Monday morning, City Cab Co. driver Maninovsky Lubin was shot and killed in an apparent attempted robbery at 44th and Sansom streets in University City. A Haitian immigrant and out-of-work engineer, Lubin was 41 years old when he died.
At 3:45 a.m. Monday, Philadelphia police responded to a call and found Lubin slumped over the steering wheel of his city cab at the 4400 Sansom stretch of buildings.
According to police officials, Lubin had suffered several gunshot wounds to the head. He was last seen in his cab No. P-463 leaving Philadelphia International Airport around midnight.
"He was a good son and a well-educated man," said Lubin's father Fritz, 69, who is also a taxi driver. "You have to cope with it, you have no other choice."
Fellow City Cab Co. employees also spoke highly of the fallen driver.
"He was a reliable guy and never had a problem with customers," said City Cab spokesman Ali Torabi. "He did his duty on time, never any complaints."
While no arrests have been made, Philadelphia Police investigators suspect that the incident began as a robbery, with the passenger striking Lubin through the open partition in the cab.
The killer then fled after Lubin's car collided with two parked vehicles and came to a stop, officials said.
Torabi noted that cab driver attacks were especially infrequent in the University City area, with the last assault occurring over three years ago.
"We had another incident over there around 48th and Sansom," Torabi said. A cab driver "got shot five times, but fortunately, he didn't get killed."
City police have yet to determine whether a connection exists between the Lubin shooting and another attempted robbery of a taxi driver that occurred last week in Germantown.
In an effort to prevent future attacks, organizations such as the International Taxi Drivers Safety Council have advocated the installation of new safety measures in cabs, including bullet-resistant partitions and hijack lights.
The elder Lubin agreed, noting that the current partitions that most taxi drivers use are not secure.
"If they design another type of partition it would be safer," he said.
Following the incident, Maninovsky's mother flew in from Haiti.
"It is very hard for her," Fritz Lubin said. "But with family, you have to be able to console."
Viewings will be held in Philadelphia and Brooklyn, N.Y., with the body then being shipped to Haiti for burial.
