Cab carjacked, two arrested

Posted: 12:33 PM CDT Monday, Mar. 20, 2023

Two people are being charged with carjacking a taxi after hailing a ride.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

*No charge for 4 weeks then billed as $19 every four weeks (new subscribers and qualified returning subscribers only). Cancel anytime.

Two people are being charged with carjacking a taxi after hailing a ride.

Read unlimited articles for free today:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/03/2023 (401 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two people are being charged with carjacking a taxi after hailing a ride.

Officers were sent to the 1000 block of McPhillips Street at about 10:30 a.m. Sunday, and arrested a man and a woman as they tried to drive away, the Winnipeg Police Service said Monday.

The 26-year-old male cab driver was still nearby and not hurt.

Police said the suspects became “aggressive and belligerent” during a ride. After getting out of the cab at their requested location, they pulled the driver out of the vehicle while one of them brandished a weapon.

The pair got back into the taxi; the cab driver fled, police said.

One of the suspects assaulted two officers and threatened to kill them, police said. Neither officer was injured.

A 30-year-old woman is facing a robbery charge and two counts each of assaulting a peace officer and uttering threats.

A 21-year-old man is facing a robbery charge.

Both are from Winnipeg. Their names were not released.

A separate violent incident a few hours earlier had the manager of Unicity Taxi speaking out about safety concerns for drivers.

Gagandeep Brar, general manager of Unicity Taxi, said one of his drivers escaped after four individuals got out of the car and smashed its windows instead of paying the fare.

“This should not be happening,” Brar said, saying it “becomes scary for the drivers to drive at night.”

The driver reported the incident to the company, saying it happened around 5 a.m. March 19, in a back lane near Church and Machray avenues.

Brar said the driver told him the four suspects looked like teenagers and were armed with knives, guns and metal rods. They were picked up on the 500 block of Bannatyne Avenue, and stopped at a beer vendor before directing the driver to detour down a back lane.

There was no dispute about money and the ride was quiet, so the attack came out of nowhere, Brar said. The driver hadn’t asked for money upfront and had stopped the meter at $20, he added.

Brar believes violence against taxi drivers is becoming more common: “You never know which customer or which person can create some problem.”

— Staff