‘You’re going to kill us’: Family speaks out after taxi driver refused to let them out during ride from FLL due to payment dispute

A family is speaking out after a trip from the airport ended with a 911 call when their taxi driver refused to stop or let them out of the vehicle over a payment dispute.

Speaking to 7News on Monday, the Guetarni family said they were fresh off a spring break trip to Canada when they landed at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and decided to grab a taxi.

The taxi they chose had a sign that specified it accepted all major credit cards and had working credit card machines.

But the family said the driver didn’t tell them his machine didn’t work until several minutes into their trip home.

“Yeah, we get in the car, and we’re like, ‘We don’t have cash,'” said Catherine in a video shared with 7News of the incident.

And that statement kicked the argument into high gear. The driver, despite the posted rules for taxis, demanded that the family pay him in cash.

When they said they didn’t have cash, the family said he allegedly stopped communicating with them and began driving erratically.

A video from inside the car, shared with 7News, shows the terrifying experience for the Guetarni family.

“Highway! Get off the highway! You’re going to kill us!” yelled Catherine.

“Where are you taking us?” asked her husband.

The man did not answer. According to the family, the driver drove at a dangerously slow speed and occasionally took his eyes off the road.

“I’m begging you to just drop us off,” said the husband.

“Let me out of the car! Let me out of this car, do you understand?” asked the husband. “You’re taking me hostage at this point! You are taking me hostage with my kids!”

Catherine said it was a scary moment.

“It was terrifying,” she said.

With her 8 and 10-year-old next to her and with her husband fuming, Catherine said she pleaded with the driver to exit the highway for more than 20 minutes.

“Can we just please, can you just let us off at the next exit? That is all we would like,” she said on the video.

The terrified mother called 911 from the back seat.

Dispatchers asked if they had passed Pine Island, which the family said they had.

“You have to pull over, you have to pull over, and let us out of the vehicle. The police want you to please do this, please! We’re gonna die!” said Catherine.

“How are you gonna die?” asked the driver.

“We’re going 35 miles an hour on the highway!” yelled Catherine. “We’re getting honked at! We’re swerving now!”

Once police got on the line, the driver took the highway exit and dropped the family off at a nearby Marathon gas station.

Davie Police and Florida Highway Patrol troopers arrived and eventually allowed everyone to go their own way.

But on Monday, Catherine recalled the scary incident to 7News.

“We were going 35 miles an hour. So slow, we were going so slow. Cars were honking at us. We almost got clipped by a semi,” she said.

Video shows the moment the children begin crying after a car nearly crashes into the slow-moving taxi.

“My kids were scared to death,” said Catherine.

The family has since filed a police report with the Florida Highway Patrol.

In a statement to 7News, FLL said:

The airport’s transportation management company “…has suspended this taxicab driver from operating at FLL and will refer the matter to Broward County’s Consumer Affairs Division for further investigation. We regret that the guest experience was not satisfactory for this family.”