In the pre-dawn hours of April 22, 2024, in Rochester, New York, 45-year-old taxi driver David Treese III responded to a call that would be his last. When he arrived on First Street to pick up the fare, a man named David Porter, 36, got into the cab armed with a handgun. What began as a robbery quickly escalated into a brutal act of violence. Porter immediately started to pistol-whip Treese while demanding money.
As the taxi pulled away, the assault continued, culminating in Porter firing five to six shots at close range, striking Treese multiple times in his upper body.
Despite being gravely wounded, Treese managed to drive to Bay Street. There, he stumbled out of his vehicle and collapsed onto the sidewalk, where he succumbed to his injuries. Porter then seized the opportunity to escape, jumping into the driver's seat of the stolen taxi. His flight was short-lived, however, as he crashed the vehicle into a tree on Central Park before abandoning it and fleeing on foot. Authorities were first alerted to the crash around 3:20 a.m., and about an hour later, a passerby discovered Treese's body on Bay Street and alerted the police. The entire horrifying incident was captured by a camera inside the taxi cab.
The investigation swiftly led to the identification of David Porter as the primary suspect. He was apprehended the very next day, on April 23, 2024, at an apartment in the nearby town of Chili and taken into custody without incident. Porter, who had a criminal history that included three prior felony convictions, was initially charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon. In May 2024, a grand jury indicted him on more severe charges, including first-degree murder.
The trial of David Porter began in January 2025. Prosecutors presented the damning video evidence from the cab, while Porter's defense attorney argued that his client was under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident and did not have the intent to commit murder. After hearing testimony and reviewing the evidence, a Monroe County jury found Porter guilty on all counts, including first-degree murder. On February 14, 2025, David Lee Porter was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, ensuring he would never again have the freedom he so violently took from another.
