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The cabbie was taking Jordan White, 20, to Montclair after picking him up in Manhattan when White convinced him to open the divider between them on westbound Route 3 around 4 a.m. Monday, Lt. Robert Bracken said.
White, of Galloway in Atlantic County, pulled a box cutter and demanded the driver's cellphone and cash, Bracken said.
When the driver refused, White stabbed and slashed him on the shoulder, back and chest, the lieutenant said.
The driver lost control of the cab, which rolled before coming to rest near woods on the side of the highway, he said.
White fled to a CVS on Bloomfield Avenue.
Police responding to a report of an injured man who'd entered the storage room there quickly realized that he was the taxi robber and arrested him, Bracken said.
White was initially hospitalized in police custody, charged with aggravated assault, armed robbery and several weapons offenses.
Meanwhile, police and EMS workers tended to the driver, who also was hospitalized.
Both were released from the hospital soon after, Bracken said.
White remained held in the Passaic County Jail pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Paterson.
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