NYC Taxi Driver's Body Repatriated to Ivory Coast After Heat Wave Death

Richard Coulibaly, a New York City taxi driver for nearly two decades, is set to return to his homeland of Ivory Coast for burial after dying alone in his cab during last month’s record-breaking heat wave.

The 68-year-old (his brother said he was 73) was found dead at the wheel of his parked taxi in Harlem on July 2, when temperatures in the city hit 100 degrees for the first time in more than a decade. The city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has not yet determined his cause of death.

Coulibaly had left Ivory Coast for the U.S. in 1996 and never returned, according to his younger brother Christophe Coulibaly, who had last spoken with him by phone about a week or two before his death. Christophe, who lives in Ivory Coast, said he was unaware his brother worked as a taxi driver until others informed him after his passing.

“He told me he was doing other things,” Christophe said in a French-language phone interview. “I really don’t know everything that happened.”

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance and fellow Ivorian immigrants in New York organized through social media to locate Coulibaly’s relatives and raise at least $7,500 for his funeral and repatriation. His remains are scheduled to be flown to Abidjan in the coming days.

Christophe expressed gratitude for the efforts of those who helped bring his brother home. “They have bled themselves dry, they have made an effort,” he said. “May God bless them and may their souls sanctify us for everything they have done.”

The search for Coulibaly’s family began shortly after his body was discovered at Frederick Douglass Boulevard and 116th Street. Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the Taxi Workers Alliance, and another member went to the scene after receiving a call from a driver who reported a taxi pulled over with an apparent fatality inside.

Police initially could not release Coulibaly’s identity or allow access to his phone since they lacked next-of-kin information. His employer, a Queens-based taxi-medallion management company, confirmed his name.

Locating family in Ivory Coast proved difficult. Coulibaly lived a largely solitary life, according to those who knew him. Aboubacar Diakité, a Harlem businessman who helped Coulibaly with his taxes, said the cabbie rarely socialized outside of work and would grow emotional when discussing his family.

“He just go home, sleep, come back to work,” Diakité said. “He was working, working, working, every day working.”

Abdul Traore, a fellow taxi driver who serves as a liaison to the Ivorian community, described Coulibaly as isolated.

Despite the challenges, a Facebook post in Ivorian immigrant networks led to a breakthrough. Saibou Sidibé, a former Uber driver from Ivory Coast, posted a plea for information about a deceased cabbie with Coulibaly’s last name. A woman who turned out to be Coulibaly’s niece responded, and after confirming details, Sidibé contacted Christophe Coulibaly in Ivory Coast.

According to city data, approximately 5,700 Ivorians live in New York. Among the 180,000 licensed drivers overseen by the Taxi & Limousine Commission, only 1,179—about 0.65 percent—are from Ivory Coast.

“It’s such a small community here,” Desai said. “It truly was a needle in a haystack. We are so grateful that there was a miracle that we were able to reach the family.”

Sidibé praised the Taxi Workers Alliance for following through on a difficult task.

“This is a situation no one will forget,” he said. “When you pass away, we know how hard it is for people here, especially immigrants who know nobody. It’s luck, because some people pass away and the body’s there at the hospital, but nobody claims it.”

Once the remains arrive, Christophe Coulibaly said his family will set a date for the burial and plan to send a letter of thanks to all who helped return Richard Coulibaly to Ivory Coast.

“Thank you to all the communities, all the religious communities, all the professional communities,” he said. “Thank you to the population, everyone who made an effort to gather the money to transfer his body to Abidjan.”