Buffalo, NY (WBEN) A Buffalo man pleads guilty to trying to rob a taxi driver.
30-year-old Michael Gandy pleaded guilty before State Supreme Court Justice Russell P. Buscaglia to one count of Attempted Robbery in the First Degree and one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, both Class “C” violent felonies on the day his non-jury trial was to begin.
Prosecutors say on February 25, 2019, at approximately 3:30 a.m., the victim, while working as taxi driver, picked up Gandy who requested a ride from a store on Walden Avenue near Harmonia Street to the Langfields Apartments. After a few minutes into the ride, Gandy, who was in the backseat of the vehicle, began hitting the victim in the head with a handgun. Gandy threatened to shoot the victim if he did not give money to him.
A struggle ensued as the victim wrestled the gun from Gandy. A shot was subsequently fired inside the vehicle. When the victim was able to get the gun, Gandyexited the taxi and ran down Moselle Street.
The victim called police who recovered the illegal gun. The taxi driver was taken to ECMC by ambulance to be treated for multiple lacerations to his head.
Gandy faces a maximum of 15 years in prison when he is sentenced on Friday, February 7. He remains held without bail.