North Charleston police: Taxi driver stabbed after asking for fare from homeless rider

A homeless man accused of stabbing a cab driver Thursday night when asked for a fare has professed his propensity to steal, even from those who help him.

“I’m a low-down, dirty thief, so steal from anybody ... especially the ones who try to take care of me most!” Bobby Thomas Lunstford Jr., 36, wrote on Facebook in July. “I have no remorse (and) will do it again real soon.

“I will throw my life away for a couple dollars.”

Lunstford, a felon, is now wanted on charges that include assault and battery with intent to kill. The North Charleston Police Department said he stabbed a cab driver in the neck after hailing a ride from a West Ashley bar.

The 35-year-old taxi driver suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.

The cabbie told authorities that around 9 p.m., he picked up a man at Patrick’s Pub on Ashley River Road in West Ashley. He said the man was wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans, but he didn’t know the rider.

They traveled to the North Bluff Apartments at 7925 St. Ives Road in North Charleston, where the man asked to be taken to a nearby Arby’s restaurant instead.

That’s when the cab driver asked for money and was stabbed in the left side of his neck. The rider got out and ran.

The cabbie drove to the parking lot of Dial America on Greenridge Road, where the police were summoned. Officers found him holding a rag to his neck. Blood soaked his shirt.

Capt. Scott Deckard, a police spokesman, said Friday that warrants for Lunstford’s arrest were drafted and that the suspect hadn’t been found. It wasn’t immediately known how detectives were able to implicate him in the assault.

In the July Facebook post, Lunstford said he had amassed $576 in stolen items and “still counting.” He expressed a hope that someone would intervene and beat him up.

Since 1996, State Law Enforcement Division records show that Lunstford has accumulated an extensive felony and misdemeanor history. He has convictions for receiving stolen goods, assault and battery, possessing drug paraphernalia, using vehicles without permission, grand larceny and begging.

He did not immediately respond Friday to a message sent to him on Facebook.

Reach Andrew Knapp at 937-5414 or twitter.com/offlede.