Cops: Cabbie left child, 7, on Freeport street

A cabdriver booted a 7-year-old Roosevelt boy out of his taxi after learning that the boy didn't have money to pay for the $5 ride home from his grandmother's apartment, according to Nassau police and the boy's family.

The driver, Roy Sutherland of Uniondale, has been arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child, police said. He is accused of dropping the boy, Alex, a few blocks from his grandmother's building in Freeport shortly after picking him up there, police said.

"Yeah, I was scared," Alex said in an interview. "I was banging on the doors, everyone's doors."

"The defendant left the 7-year-old standing on the street corner of North Main Street and Lena Avenue in Freeport by himself with no adult supervision to care for the victim and drove away," the police said in a news release.

Esther Bowman, Alex's grandmother, said that she went to look for Alex after she received a call from her daughter, Joy Allen, telling her the boy had not come home. Bowman said she found her grandson outside the building's front door.

"He was very upset. He was shaking. He was crying," Bowman said. "I did a lot of hugging."

Sutherland, 66, declined to comment Wednesday. A message left for his employer, owner of Express Valentine in Roosevelt, was not returned. A company dispatcher said the matter is under investigation and he could not comment.

Sutherland was given an appearance ticket and released. He is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 25.

Allen, 34, a single mother who works part-time as a secretary in a law office, said she can't afford a car and relied on the Express Valentine taxis and public transportation. She wasn't home Monday but Allen said Alex's caretaker was home to receive him and would have paid the fare.

"I was enraged. I was panicking," Allen said. "I didn't know where he was."

Since she moved to Roosevelt a year and half ago, Allen said she felt comfortable sending her son alone in a cab to visit his grandmother or to school when he misses the bus.

"I've never not paid," Allen said. "This is an ongoing relationship."