French Montana helps cab driver attacked during Knicks celebrations

A viral video of a yellow cab being swarmed, stomped on and left with a smashed windshield during Knicks celebrations pushed French Montana to step in with money and visibility. The rapper said the story “hit a nerve” for him after seeing a working driver caught in the middle of the chaos.

The cab driver has been identified as 59-year-old Noureddine Bitat, an Algerian immigrant and father whose vehicle was damaged after the Knicks’ Game 4 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, June 13, 2026. Bitat was left unable to work while the cab was out of service, and he has described the night as traumatizing. French Montana said he was moved because he saw “a man trying to feed his family,” a feeling shaped in part by his own path to the United States from Morocco as a teenager.

After the video spread, French Montana reposted it and urged followers to help find the driver so they could help him. Bitat was later found, and a GoFundMe was launched with the New York Taxi Workers Alliance and Zachery “MDMotivator” Dereniowski. By June 17, 2026, Bitat was presented with a $75,000 check from French Montana, the union and Dereniowski. One report said the fundraiser had already climbed past $51,000 before the check was delivered.

The money was meant to restore Bitat’s business and get him back on the road, but the damage exposed a harder truth about public celebrations in New York City. When crowds spill into the streets after big wins, the costs do not fall evenly. The people who absorb them are often service workers, including cab drivers, who depend on a single vehicle for their income and have little cushion when it is put out of commission.

Bitat’s case also turned a sports celebration into a civic one, forcing attention on how quickly joy in Manhattan can slide into vandalism that devastates a stranger’s livelihood. For French Montana, the response was personal. For Bitat, it was a chance to rebuild after one night of disorder knocked him off the road.