72-year-old local taxi driver beaten, robbed

FORT MYERS, Fla.- A 72-year-old taxi driver was viciously beaten and robbed by a group of people he was picking up.

It happened around 4 a.m. Monday at the Sienna at Vista Lake Apartments on Winkler Avenue.

Bob Fonock, a Bluebird Taxi driver, says he was called out to the apartment complex to take a woman named Jessica on a very early morning run to Wal-Mart.

He says he’s lucky to be alive after what happened next.

“This is not something that anybody should get away with. This is cruel treatment to a human being. I was treated like a dog,” said Fonock. “It was a vicious attack.”

Fonock’s right eye is swollen shut and his left eye is blood red. His scalp is stapled shut in several spots, while his arms and legs are riddled with scrapes and bruises.

“She said she had her son who needed help to get in the car because of his leg injury. So my mistake I guess, I got out of the car to help her son. Got out of the car and walked around to help him get into the car and as I bent over to help him, I was jumped from behind, beaten up.”

He adds, “I don’t who they were, I never saw them, but they did a pretty good job on me. They were beating on me for several minutes, it seemed like an eternity.”

Fonock says when the beating was over and he got up, there was no one to be seen. His wallet and phone were gone.

“I think it was a setup. I think the woman, the guy on the ground and whoever the third party was were all involved in it.”

He says he was able to flag down someone in a car who called 911. He spent the next three hours in the hospital.

“He’s an old man. just why, why would you do that?” said Emily Fonock, the victim’s wife.

Fonock says he’ll probably never drive at night again.

“I don’t know that I’ll continue driving, period.”

Fonock says in hindsight, he knows he never should have gotten out of the taxi.

The Fort Myers Police Department is investigating and says they’re pursuing leads.

If you’d like to donate to Fonock’s recovery fund, click here.