Two Men Set Woman Cab Driver Afire After Robbery : Woman Cabbie Robbed and Set Afire by Two Men

A newly hired woman cabbie, who preferred to drive at night because she could make more money, was robbed, doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire by two men who then drove away in her cab early today, authorities said.

The driver, Mary Clarke, 45, was reported in “critical but stable condition” in the burn unit of Torrance Memorial Hospital Medical Center, with second- and third-degree burns on her upper body and face.

“The act is so cruel and dreadful I can’t imagine anyone doing it,” said Tooraz Moradi, vice president of the AM-PM Taxi Co. in Gardena. “How could anyone . . . try to burn her alive? That’s really beyond any human comprehension.”

Telephoned Dispatcher

The sobbing driver telephoned the cab company dispatcher at around 4 a.m., according to Moradi, and reported that she had been burned. Another cab driver was sent to her aid, arriving just before deputies who had been summoned by neighbors who heard her cries.

Clarke had driven for the newly formed AM-PM firm for about a month, according to Moradi. Before that, he said, she had worked for two other Los Angeles taxi firms for a total of about three years. He said Clarke has a daughter, about 21, and is divorced.

“She preferred to drive at night because she thought she could make more money,” Moradi said.

Sgt. Don Neureither of the Lennox sheriff substation said Clarke picked up two men in Gardena and drove them to the Lennox area, where both men got out of the cab and got into the front seat, forcing her to sit between them. They continued on to 118th Street and Felton Avenue.

“Once they had arrived, they pushed her out of the cab,” he said. “They had poured a flammable liquid over her head, and they ignited it.”

Her attackers were described as two black men in their late 20s or early 30s: one about 5-foot-9 and 200 pounds wearing dark clothing and a dark baseball cap and the other about 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds with a red baseball cap and a goatee.

“This is not the common type of robbery,” Neureither said. “Generally, suspects will rob cab drivers and release them. This is an unusual situation. Extremely cruel.”

The burned out cab was later found abandoned near the taxi company.

Indications were that Clarke had been specifically chosen for the attack.

Customer Asked for Her

At about 3:14 a.m., according to Moradi, a caller, who identified himself as “Robert,” ordered a cab from the dispatcher and asked, “Can I have Mary?” Moradi said the customer was someone Clarke had driven earlier in the morning.

As a matter of company policy, Moradi said, Clarke would not have been sent on the call if “Robert” had insisted on her as his driver. But, since he did not, Clarke was allowed to respond.

“At about 3:50 a.m., she called back to the station,” Moradi said. “She was crying, and she told the dispatcher she was burned.”

At the same time, he said, Clarke was calling to neighbors who had come to her aid, “Please don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.”