Overview
- A longtime immigrant cab driver known locally as Richard Coulibaly was found dead inside his taxi in Harlem in July and the city medical examiner ruled the death natural.
- Fellow drivers and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance led the effort to confirm his identity after officials did not immediately provide it.
- The alliance located relatives in Ivory Coast and raised money to return his remains, which were flown home at the end of August.
- Mourners gathered at the block where he was found to hold a vigil and learned there that his body had reached his family.
- The case highlights how language barriers, sparse social ties, and paperwork delays leave some immigrant workers isolated and shows how worker groups step in to provide identification, funding and burial arrangements.