Nearby: Cab Driver Sentenced for Franklin Square Murder

A Queens man was sentenced to 22 years to life in prison Monday for murdering a fellow taxi driver in a Franklin Square parking lot after the two men had argued hours earlier over a disputed fare.

Christopher Heron, 37, of Springfield Gardens, was convicted by a jury of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree last October.

According to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, just after midnight on Aug. 12, 2011, Heron stabbed 33-year-old Queens resident William Mena three times in the chest and abdomen in Town of Hempstead municipal parking lot No. 7 in Franklin Square before fleeing the scene.

Before the attack, Rice said the two men -- both cab drivers for Ollie’s Taxi in Franklin Square -- were arguing about an incident a few hours earlier when Heron accused the victim of stealing a fare that had been assigned to him.

Mena was pronounced dead at the scene with perforations to the left lung, aorta, trachea and inferior vena cava, Rice said.

Heron left his cab in the lot after fleeing the scene, but turned himself in later that night, Rice said. Video surveillance footage from a nearby residence captured the murder.

“This defendant turned a dispute between co-workers into a brutal attack that will forever affect the families of both men,” Rice said. “While no sentence can ever bring the victim back, I hope Mr. Mena’s family finds solace in knowing that his killer will spend a very long time in prison reflecting on all the pain he has caused.”