ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A man is accused of getting into a cab, pistol-whipping the driver, shooting him to death, and driving away with the cab early Monday morning.

The driver for Associate Taxi, David Treese III, was found dead on Bay Street near Rhor Street on the city’s northeast side. David Porter, 36, has been charged with his second-degree murder along with robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.

It all started around 3 a.m. when Treese picked up a passenger on First Street. According to RPD, that passenger, Porter, pulled out a handgun and hit Treese with it while demanding money. RPD says Porter then shot the driver at a close range at least five times in the upper body and continued to pistol-whip him even after he was shot.

The pistol-whipping continued until the cab was at Bay Street, where Treese stumbled out of the driver’s seat and died on the sidewalk.

Mayor Malik Evans spoke at a news conference on Wednesday about the arrest, saying that he’s devastated for Trees’s family and is thinking about the safety of any cab or rideshare driver.

“Often times, they have other jobs and they do this because they want to make extra money,” Evans said. “They should not have to put their lives in danger when they do these jobs and Mr. Treese should not have died like this. No one deserves to die in such a brutal way, so our thoughts are with his family.”

RPD says that Porter went into the driver’s seat and sped away before crashing into a tree about a block away on Central Park. Officers say he abandoned the car and ran away.

Officers first learned of the crash around 3:20 a.m. on Monday. About an hour later, someone found Treese’s body and called police and officers determined that the two incidents were connected.

RPD officers and U.S. Marshals arrested Porter on Tuesday evening at an apartment in Chili. RPD says city residents shared information that helped with the investigation that led to the arrest.

Porter has three previous felony and three previous misdemeanor convictions. He also had a warrant out for his arrest from the criminal obstruction of breathing from a different case in the city. Porter was arraigned on Wednesday morning in Rochester City Court and held on no bail. RPD says Porter may face addition charges related to the murder when the case goes to the grand jury.

You can see the full news conference announcing the arrest here: