Playa del Carmen Taxi Driver Suspended After Assaulting Female Passenger on Video

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — A taxi driver in Playa del Carmen has been suspended indefinitely after a video surfaced showing him assaulting a female passenger, authorities said.

The Lázaro Cárdenas del Río taxi union announced the suspension in a statement, saying the decision was made jointly with the Quintana Roo Mobility Institute (Imoveqroo), which is reviewing administrative and legal measures against the driver.

The union said it would not tolerate behavior that undermines respect, integrity, and good treatment of users, and vowed to act firmly against any violations of these principles.

The incident was reported Monday by the passenger, who said she asked the driver for change for a 200-peso bill. According to her account, the driver responded with insults and then struck her, with part of the attack captured on video before she got out of the taxi, which bore the economic number 320.

“I told him to charge me and paid with a 200-peso bill. He asked if I had a 100, and I said no, that was the only bill I had. He said, ‘Then that’s how it stays,’ and I asked for my change. He said he didn’t have any. I just told him he should carry change, and he said, ‘You’re screwed now,’ and started insulting me. I thought he was going to take me somewhere else, but he stopped. I asked for my change, he said he wouldn’t give me anything, so I took out my phone to record him, and he started hitting me. I only managed to record a part because I put the phone away,” she recounted on social media.

The attack is the latest in a series of violent incidents involving taxi drivers in Playa del Carmen that have been captured on video in recent years. On May 9, a taxi driver was recorded assaulting an elderly mototaxi driver in the Villas del Sol neighborhood. The driver was suspended and sanctioned by Imoveqroo and the union the following day.