Taxi driver being choked crashes into church with people locked inside

The mystery began yesterday morning when a Mount Vernon cab driver told police that a passenger had tried to rob and choke him, causing him to crash his car into a storefront church on South Fulton Avenue. And it deepened considerably when police responded to the address and discovered not only the damage, but also four adults and a 3-year-old girl inside the church, whose main doors were locked from the outside.

By last night, the police had gathered more information, but not enough to form a complete picture about why the people were inside. "We got to figure out why these folks were there," Mount Vernon Police Commissioner David Chong said.

Here's what they do know: The 32-year-old cabbie picked up several passengers at the Cross County Shopping Center around 3 a.m. In what appeared to be a robbery attempt, one tried choking the driver, making him lose control of his cab. The driver plowed into River Jordan Holy Tabernacle Church at 238 S. Fulton Ave. Police were notified by a neighbour who called with a noise complaint.

When the police began searching the church for the attacker and other passengers, they discovered the four adults and the toddler inside the locked church. Chong said it looked as if they had been living there, because the area was covered with makeshift beds and it had a cooking area.

"What scares us about this is that the church was all locked down from the outside, so there was no means of getting out of the church for these four adults and the child," he said. Had the taxi caught fire after the crash, Chong said, they could have died.

Police continue to investigate how the group got into the building and why they were there. Another group of detectives is investigating the cabbie's report, Chong said. Westchester County Child Protective Services was notified, and the Buildings Department was going to board up the church.