From the Kingston Whig-Standard Online:
The operator of Kingston's biggest taxi company says he will install surveillance cameras to protect drivers.
Mark Greenwood, owner of Amey's Taxi, owns 15 cars that operate with Amey's signs on the roof. There are roughly 90 cars in Kingston that carry the Amey's sign, but the bulk of them are owned and operated by independent businesspeople.
Greenwood said other owners also are installing cameras.
"I would say they're in about 25% of our cars right now or are going to be," he said.
Last week, an Amey's driver was stabbed by a passenger in the front seat who jabbed him in the chest with an X-Acto knife and then stole the cab. The driver was not seriously hurt, Greenwood said.
That taxi did not yet have any safety equipment.
Last August, the body that regulates and governs the local cab industry ordered car owners to install one of three safety options in each car: an external flashing emergency light, a shield separating driver and rear seat passengers or a camera.
The safety measures were ordered after an outcry by taxi drivers in the wake of the murder in 2007 of Amey's driver David Krick.
The lights cost $300. Barriers cost $700 and cameras cost $1,400 per car. The safety equipment must be installed within three years, or when the car is replaced, whichever comes first.
"I'm going to do what I feel would protect them best," Greenwood said. "Obviously I care about my drivers and if I do everything in my power to make sure they're safe, then I can sleep easy at night."
Greenwood said most owners have chosen to install the lights, which can be operated from inside the car by the driver. They are only useful if someone outside the taxi sees the flashing light and calls 911.
Greenwood said he's sold on the cameras. He cites recent statistics from Windsor, where there were seven violent incidents in taxis in 2007 and 11 incidents last year.
In February this year, the installation of cameras was completed in Windsor cabs. There have not been any violent incidents since.
Violent incidents, including robberies and assaults on drivers, have declined in most cities where cameras were widely installed.
"They're proven to work," Greenwood said. "I know people say it's not a shield, it just takes pictures and it helps the police catch them after the fact, but really it prevents them from doing it in the first place."
Greenwood said shields are problematic because they don't protect drivers from front-seat passengers.
In the incident last week, the fare got into the front seat, beside the driver, and stabbed him by leaning over and pushing the driver up against the door.
A 23-year-old man was charged in the assault.
A 31-year-old man was charged in the 2007 murder of Krick. The case is still before the court.
Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Friday, November 06, 2009
Fellow driver calls for action
From the Whig-Standard online
Posted By ROB TRIPP
More than two years after Shelley Scott desperately tried to breathe life into a dying fellow cab driver, she laments that cabbies continue to face the same hazards.
"The same stuff, over and over again," she said morosely yesterday.
"Something has to be done." Early Wednesday morning, a
veteran Amey's taxi driver was stabbed in the chest by a passenger wielding an X-Acto knife.
According to Amey's owner Mark Greenwood, the passenger reached around from the rear seat and jabbed the 60-year-old driver.
The wounded driver got out of the car and the assailant drove off in the taxi. He ditched the vehicle and was arrested a short time later as police swarmed the area. The cabbie escaped with minor injuries.
The incident is reminiscent, though with a different outcome, of another attack on a cabbie in 2007.
Early on Father's Day morning that year, Amey's driver David Krick picked up a passenger near the YMCA. Minutes later, Krick pressed a silent panic alarm that notified his dispatcher of trouble.
Soon after, he was found lying on a sidewalk on Durham Street, bleeding profusely from stab wounds to the chest. The killer had taken his taxi.
Scott, who was driving a taxi that morning, was one of the first drivers to find Krick after a call for help. Though horrified at the sight of the unconscious, bloody victim, she performed mouth to mouth while a police officer at the scene did chest compressions until paramedics arrived.
Krick, 50, died in hospital. A 31-year-old man was later charged with murder. A preliminary hearing in the case is still underway.
The incident mobilized Scott, among many other drivers, to lobby for safety measures for cabs.
In a decision made in August last year, the body that regulates the area taxi industry ordered all cab owners to install one of three safety devices in every car, within three years, or when the car is replaced, whichever comes first.
The cab owners must install a surveillance camera, a partition between driver and passenger compartment or an external emergency flashing light that can be activated by the cab driver.
Only partitions and cameras have been shown in other cities to improve driver safety. The external flashing light is considered by many experts to be a waste of time, since it is only useful if someone outside the taxi sees the light and calls 911.
"(Safety) needs to be revisited," said Scott.
She notes that the taxi business is stringently regulated to ensure customers are well served. Drivers, for instance, cannot smoke in their cars.
"It's about protecting drivers as much as it is about setting standards for the customers," Scott said.
Taxi driving is the most dangerous legal occupation in Canada, according to Statistics Canada figures.
Between 1995 and 2005, 25 cab drivers were murdered. In that period, 18 police officers were killed on duty.
Thirty-one year veteran driver Roy Ambury, who also writes a weekly magazine about the local taxi business, was robbed five years ago by a backseat passenger who held a knife to his neck.
Ambury escaped with minor injuries.
"The uptake on these (safety measures) has been slow because people don't see it as a problem," said Ambury.
Very few taxis are now equipped with cameras. No one in Kingston has installed a partition, Ambury said.
Only Amey's taxis are equipped with GPS tracking systems tied to the central dispatch. The system allowed police to find David Krick quickly in 2007.
"I'm really thankful that Amey's has the tracking system," said Ambury, who drives for Modern Taxi.
People who work in the business accept that there is a "background level" of problems for drivers, Ambury said.
"That background level is tolerated, dealt with, because otherwise, if everybody reacted to everything in an exaggerated way, then there wouldn't be any cabs on the road," he said.
After Krick's murder, many taxi drivers complained that the people who own cabs aren't concerned about the safety of drivers, but are worried that if they have to raise fares to pay for new gear, it will drive away business.
Timothy McGonegal, 23, is charged with attempted murder, robbery, and dangerous driving in connection to the stabbing Wednesday.
He remains behind bars.
Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard
Posted By ROB TRIPP
More than two years after Shelley Scott desperately tried to breathe life into a dying fellow cab driver, she laments that cabbies continue to face the same hazards.
"The same stuff, over and over again," she said morosely yesterday.
"Something has to be done." Early Wednesday morning, a
veteran Amey's taxi driver was stabbed in the chest by a passenger wielding an X-Acto knife.
According to Amey's owner Mark Greenwood, the passenger reached around from the rear seat and jabbed the 60-year-old driver.
The wounded driver got out of the car and the assailant drove off in the taxi. He ditched the vehicle and was arrested a short time later as police swarmed the area. The cabbie escaped with minor injuries.
The incident is reminiscent, though with a different outcome, of another attack on a cabbie in 2007.
Early on Father's Day morning that year, Amey's driver David Krick picked up a passenger near the YMCA. Minutes later, Krick pressed a silent panic alarm that notified his dispatcher of trouble.
Soon after, he was found lying on a sidewalk on Durham Street, bleeding profusely from stab wounds to the chest. The killer had taken his taxi.
Scott, who was driving a taxi that morning, was one of the first drivers to find Krick after a call for help. Though horrified at the sight of the unconscious, bloody victim, she performed mouth to mouth while a police officer at the scene did chest compressions until paramedics arrived.
Krick, 50, died in hospital. A 31-year-old man was later charged with murder. A preliminary hearing in the case is still underway.
The incident mobilized Scott, among many other drivers, to lobby for safety measures for cabs.
In a decision made in August last year, the body that regulates the area taxi industry ordered all cab owners to install one of three safety devices in every car, within three years, or when the car is replaced, whichever comes first.
The cab owners must install a surveillance camera, a partition between driver and passenger compartment or an external emergency flashing light that can be activated by the cab driver.
Only partitions and cameras have been shown in other cities to improve driver safety. The external flashing light is considered by many experts to be a waste of time, since it is only useful if someone outside the taxi sees the light and calls 911.
"(Safety) needs to be revisited," said Scott.
She notes that the taxi business is stringently regulated to ensure customers are well served. Drivers, for instance, cannot smoke in their cars.
"It's about protecting drivers as much as it is about setting standards for the customers," Scott said.
Taxi driving is the most dangerous legal occupation in Canada, according to Statistics Canada figures.
Between 1995 and 2005, 25 cab drivers were murdered. In that period, 18 police officers were killed on duty.
Thirty-one year veteran driver Roy Ambury, who also writes a weekly magazine about the local taxi business, was robbed five years ago by a backseat passenger who held a knife to his neck.
Ambury escaped with minor injuries.
"The uptake on these (safety measures) has been slow because people don't see it as a problem," said Ambury.
Very few taxis are now equipped with cameras. No one in Kingston has installed a partition, Ambury said.
Only Amey's taxis are equipped with GPS tracking systems tied to the central dispatch. The system allowed police to find David Krick quickly in 2007.
"I'm really thankful that Amey's has the tracking system," said Ambury, who drives for Modern Taxi.
People who work in the business accept that there is a "background level" of problems for drivers, Ambury said.
"That background level is tolerated, dealt with, because otherwise, if everybody reacted to everything in an exaggerated way, then there wouldn't be any cabs on the road," he said.
After Krick's murder, many taxi drivers complained that the people who own cabs aren't concerned about the safety of drivers, but are worried that if they have to raise fares to pay for new gear, it will drive away business.
Timothy McGonegal, 23, is charged with attempted murder, robbery, and dangerous driving in connection to the stabbing Wednesday.
He remains behind bars.
Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Man charged after taxi driver stabbed
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Online
A 23-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after an Amey's Taxi driver was stabbed in the chest with an X-Acto knife around 3:15 a. m. yesterday.
The 60-year-old driver's injuries were not serious. He was treated and released from hospital.
"I talked to him (yesterday) morning and he's fine," said Mark Greenwood, president of Amey's Taxi.
"He wanted to drive (Wednesday night). I told him to take a couple of days off, but he wants to drive (tonight)."
According to Greenwood, the accused approached the driver, who was parked at the Canadian Tire gas bar at Princess Street and Bath Road, and asked for a drive to Napanee.
Moments later, the accused asked to use an Interac machine, so the driver pulled over at Princess and Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard.
At that point, Greenwood said, the fare reached around, hit the driver in the chest with his fist and ordered him out of the car.
"The driver said the guy didn't appear drunk or on drugs," said Greenwood.
After the driver complied, the accused drove the cab north along the boulevard before losing control of the vehicle, which ended up in a ditch near Hwy. 401.
By that time, police and canine units were on the lookout for the suspect.
He was arrested without incident, police say.
The man has been charged with attempted murder, robbery, dangerous driving and several other lesser charges. He appeared in bail court yesterday.
Coincidentally, this week marked the resumption of a preliminary hearing for a man accused of murdering an Amey's driver two years ago.
David Krick was stabbed to death while on duty June 16, 2007. Richard Edmund Smith is charged with first-degree murder.
"When a driver is assaulted, it's like an attack on your family," said Greenwood. "We are a family.
"Fortunately, (Wednesday's attack) turned out to be minor. I'm happy that it wasn't worse."
Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard
A 23-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after an Amey's Taxi driver was stabbed in the chest with an X-Acto knife around 3:15 a. m. yesterday.
The 60-year-old driver's injuries were not serious. He was treated and released from hospital.
"I talked to him (yesterday) morning and he's fine," said Mark Greenwood, president of Amey's Taxi.
"He wanted to drive (Wednesday night). I told him to take a couple of days off, but he wants to drive (tonight)."
According to Greenwood, the accused approached the driver, who was parked at the Canadian Tire gas bar at Princess Street and Bath Road, and asked for a drive to Napanee.
Moments later, the accused asked to use an Interac machine, so the driver pulled over at Princess and Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard.
At that point, Greenwood said, the fare reached around, hit the driver in the chest with his fist and ordered him out of the car.
"The driver said the guy didn't appear drunk or on drugs," said Greenwood.
After the driver complied, the accused drove the cab north along the boulevard before losing control of the vehicle, which ended up in a ditch near Hwy. 401.
By that time, police and canine units were on the lookout for the suspect.
He was arrested without incident, police say.
The man has been charged with attempted murder, robbery, dangerous driving and several other lesser charges. He appeared in bail court yesterday.
Coincidentally, this week marked the resumption of a preliminary hearing for a man accused of murdering an Amey's driver two years ago.
David Krick was stabbed to death while on duty June 16, 2007. Richard Edmund Smith is charged with first-degree murder.
"When a driver is assaulted, it's like an attack on your family," said Greenwood. "We are a family.
"Fortunately, (Wednesday's attack) turned out to be minor. I'm happy that it wasn't worse."
Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard
Friday, October 09, 2009
News in Brief
From The Queen's Journal Online
Thanksgiving shuttle assesses student demand
This weekend, the AMS (Queen's University Alma Mater Society) will provide a shuttle bus between campus and the Via Rail train station to assess student demand for a bus travelling that route.
The shuttle is part of the executive’s campaign pledge for a new Kingston Transit route, AMS Vice-President (Operations) Leslie Yun said.
The bus will be paid for by the Bus-It program, a mandatory fee that gives students unlimited access to city buses during the school year.
It will run Friday and Monday and will be scheduled around incoming trains from Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.
In order to ride the shuttle, students have to pick up a free ticket at Tricolour Outfitters starting today, Yun said, adding that it’s now unclear whether the executive will fulfill its promise of a new route.
“This is a good opportunity to see what kind of demand it gets,” she said. “It will give us more concrete details to work with.”
—Rachel Kuper
Thanksgiving shuttle assesses student demand
This weekend, the AMS (Queen's University Alma Mater Society) will provide a shuttle bus between campus and the Via Rail train station to assess student demand for a bus travelling that route.
The shuttle is part of the executive’s campaign pledge for a new Kingston Transit route, AMS Vice-President (Operations) Leslie Yun said.
The bus will be paid for by the Bus-It program, a mandatory fee that gives students unlimited access to city buses during the school year.
It will run Friday and Monday and will be scheduled around incoming trains from Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.
In order to ride the shuttle, students have to pick up a free ticket at Tricolour Outfitters starting today, Yun said, adding that it’s now unclear whether the executive will fulfill its promise of a new route.
“This is a good opportunity to see what kind of demand it gets,” she said. “It will give us more concrete details to work with.”
—Rachel Kuper
Friday, October 02, 2009
Accessible Taxis in Kingston
In the most recent issue of News From Behind the Wheel, Roy reported on the September 16 meeting to discuss Accessible Taxis in Kingston. More information about this meeting can be found by clicking the following links:
Draft report on Accessible Taxis from BMA Management Consultants
Questions and Comments from the meeting
Draft report on Accessible Taxis from BMA Management Consultants
Questions and Comments from the meeting
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Cab fares may be on the rise
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Online
Taxi fares in Kingston could increase slightly in order to provide new wheelchair-accessible cabs for the handicapped under a draft report issued by the city this week.
The consultant's report suggests raising the "drop rate" - the fee charged to people getting into a cab - by five cents per trip to $2.85.
The money would be used to offset the costs of putting three vans equipped with wheelchair lifts and other specialized equipment on the road to serve the handicapped.
The vehicles would be operated by the city's private taxi firms and would supplement the Kingston Access Services bus, which is not available 24 hours a day and does not have the capacity to serve everyone who wants to use it.
The access service already uses taxis to supplement its coverage for people who are handicapped but still able to use ordinary cabs. A number of city buses also offer wheelchair access, but those also do not operate 24 hours a day and do not provide door-to-door service.
"We looked at a lot of different options, but we wanted to choose one that would not put the cost of these accessible taxis onto the tax base," said city commissioner Cynthia Beach, whose department commissioned the report.
The report notes that the city does not have dedicated handicapped taxis because they are a money-loser for companies under the current billing regime.
Outfitting them with lifts and other equipment costs $30,000 or more, they are more expensive to insure and use more fuel, adding $1,200 a month to the cost of putting them on the road.
Drivers don't like them because they run many fewer trips in a shift and take longer to load and unload passengers, resulting in fewer trips and lower earnings and tips for the drivers.
The report suggests by adding a nickel to each taxi fare in the city, the resulting revenue could be used to offset the costs of buying and running the specialized taxis, supplement the wages of the drivers who operate them and make accessible cabs economically viable.
"This approach offers the advantage of spreading the cost over a large customer base with limited [or] no impact on customers," the report concludes about the five-cent rate hike.
"It fully offsets the additional capital and operating costs of accessible on-demand taxi service which improves the economic viability and the sustainability of the service."
The consultants suggest issuing three accessible plates, one to each of the largest firms in the city, which would be enough to provide 24-hour service, seven days a week.
People can have their say on the proposal and read the draft report by following the links on the city's website.
The report will also be the subject of two public meetings next Wednesday, Sept. 9, at the downtown branch of the library between 2 p. m. to 4 p. m. and 7 p. m. to 9 p. m.
Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard
Taxi fares in Kingston could increase slightly in order to provide new wheelchair-accessible cabs for the handicapped under a draft report issued by the city this week.
The consultant's report suggests raising the "drop rate" - the fee charged to people getting into a cab - by five cents per trip to $2.85.
The money would be used to offset the costs of putting three vans equipped with wheelchair lifts and other specialized equipment on the road to serve the handicapped.
The vehicles would be operated by the city's private taxi firms and would supplement the Kingston Access Services bus, which is not available 24 hours a day and does not have the capacity to serve everyone who wants to use it.
The access service already uses taxis to supplement its coverage for people who are handicapped but still able to use ordinary cabs. A number of city buses also offer wheelchair access, but those also do not operate 24 hours a day and do not provide door-to-door service.
"We looked at a lot of different options, but we wanted to choose one that would not put the cost of these accessible taxis onto the tax base," said city commissioner Cynthia Beach, whose department commissioned the report.
The report notes that the city does not have dedicated handicapped taxis because they are a money-loser for companies under the current billing regime.
Outfitting them with lifts and other equipment costs $30,000 or more, they are more expensive to insure and use more fuel, adding $1,200 a month to the cost of putting them on the road.
Drivers don't like them because they run many fewer trips in a shift and take longer to load and unload passengers, resulting in fewer trips and lower earnings and tips for the drivers.
The report suggests by adding a nickel to each taxi fare in the city, the resulting revenue could be used to offset the costs of buying and running the specialized taxis, supplement the wages of the drivers who operate them and make accessible cabs economically viable.
"This approach offers the advantage of spreading the cost over a large customer base with limited [or] no impact on customers," the report concludes about the five-cent rate hike.
"It fully offsets the additional capital and operating costs of accessible on-demand taxi service which improves the economic viability and the sustainability of the service."
The consultants suggest issuing three accessible plates, one to each of the largest firms in the city, which would be enough to provide 24-hour service, seven days a week.
People can have their say on the proposal and read the draft report by following the links on the city's website.
The report will also be the subject of two public meetings next Wednesday, Sept. 9, at the downtown branch of the library between 2 p. m. to 4 p. m. and 7 p. m. to 9 p. m.
Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Cab driver stabbed by passenger in Montreal
From the CBC Online:
A cab driver was in stable condition in hospital after he was stabbed by a passenger early Monday in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce district.
The driver picked up a woman on Marcil Street about 1 a.m. ET. Once she was in the cab, she stabbed him twice in the upper body.
Raphael Bergeron, a Montreal police spokesman, said the driver lost control of his car and struck a few parked cars before coming to a stop.
"The cab driver ran away from his car and the person that attacked him. So he went to the intersection of Sherbrooke and Marcil. That's where he found help and emergency services responded to the call very quickly, and located also the suspect that fled on foot."
Police said a 49-year-old woman could face charges of robbery, assault and attempted murder.
A cab driver was in stable condition in hospital after he was stabbed by a passenger early Monday in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce district.
The driver picked up a woman on Marcil Street about 1 a.m. ET. Once she was in the cab, she stabbed him twice in the upper body.
Raphael Bergeron, a Montreal police spokesman, said the driver lost control of his car and struck a few parked cars before coming to a stop.
"The cab driver ran away from his car and the person that attacked him. So he went to the intersection of Sherbrooke and Marcil. That's where he found help and emergency services responded to the call very quickly, and located also the suspect that fled on foot."
Police said a 49-year-old woman could face charges of robbery, assault and attempted murder.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Teens get probation for failing to pay taxi fare
From the Whig-Standard Website
Cab driver's collaring of suspects ignites argument
Posted By SUE YANAGISAWA, WHIG-STANDARD COURT REPORTER
Two teenage girls who tried to rip off a taxi driver for a $13 fare, then fought with him and got snarly with police after the cabby chased them down and caught them, finally had their day in court.
The teens, now 18 and 17 1 /2 years old, have both been placed on probation, the older one for nine months and the younger one - who was charged in addition to violating probation - for 12 months. Each of them has also been ordered to perform 30 hours of community service and to pay $6.50 apiece in restitution to the court for the taxi fare they tried to avoid paying.
The teens were set to go to trial this week but pleaded guilty just before noon on the day of their trial to committing transportation fraud. Their pleas were made after a deal was struck between assistant Crown attorney Janet O'Brien and the father-and-son defence team of John and Chris Ecclestone.
O'Brien noted that she was agreeing to the deal partly because the case had already been set for trial on three previous occasions and Each time the victim had taken time off work to attend court.
Still, O'Brien said she wanted other young people to get the message that they can't assault someone who's making a citizen's arrest in defence of their rights.
Her comment struck a nerve with Chris Ecclestone, who represented the younger of the two girls.
He reacted as though his client was the victim.
"I would have serious concerns about taxi drivers getting the message that they can't chase people into houses and drag them out," he told the judge.
John Ecclestone went even further, suggesting that the cab driver's apprehension of the pair "had all the earmarks of a kidnapping." He also argued that the man needed a warrant before he followed his fleeing passengers into the apartment building and then held them for police.
O'Brien had told Justice Judith Beaman that the crime was committed after the cab driver was dispatched to pick up a call in the Cherry and Pine streets area.
It was 12:30 in the afternoon on June 27, 2007, and the girls at first told the driver to take them to Food Basics on Barrack Street. Then they said they wanted to go to the liquor store across the street.
When they reached their destination, however, the person they were expecting to meet wasn't there and the girls belatedly disclosed that they had no money to pay for their ride.
O'Brien said they convinced the cab driver to return them to an apartment building on Cherry Street, where he was promised they would get him his cash.
Beaman was told the cab driver insisted that one of the girls remain with the cab while the other went inside for the money. The older of the two stayed behind.
After only a few minutes, O'Brien said, the older girl suddenly bolted from the cab and ran into the building, the cab driver in pursuit.
She told the judge that he caught up with the pair at the end of a hallway, heading for an exit, and grabbed them to return them to his cab while he called police.
Beaman was told that the girls didn't go quietly, however. They kicked and screamed, scratched the taxi driver and one of them tried to bite him.
They were later described by police as abusive and unco-operative with the officers who arrested them as well.
The Ecclestones both maintained that their clients hadn't initially set out to shortchange the cab driver, even though they didn't have any money to pay for a cab when they first called Modern Taxi.
John Ecclestone said his client went to the LCBO that day expecting to be met by a woman she referred to as her "street mother." The lawyer told Beaman she thought she had an arrangement with the woman to meet at that spot and expected to be given some cash.
The problem arose, he said, when her "street mother" was "a complete no-show."
He also observed that the assault charges originally laid against his client and her friend had not gone ahead, causing him to bristle at the suggestion that any delay in bringing the case to trial was attributable to the defence.
In fact, he said, had there been no resolution and the case hadn't gone ahead this time, he would have brought a motion to have the charges shelved because of unreasonable delay in its prosecution.
Beaman finally stepped in to referee, telling the lawyers "we double-book all the time." She suggested the delay that caused wasn't anyone's fault.
She appeared to agree with the younger Ecclestone that the cab driver should not have chased the girls into the apartment building, but she told the girls,"you should not have got into the cab without the money to pay for it."
Cab driver's collaring of suspects ignites argument
Posted By SUE YANAGISAWA, WHIG-STANDARD COURT REPORTER
Two teenage girls who tried to rip off a taxi driver for a $13 fare, then fought with him and got snarly with police after the cabby chased them down and caught them, finally had their day in court.
The teens, now 18 and 17 1 /2 years old, have both been placed on probation, the older one for nine months and the younger one - who was charged in addition to violating probation - for 12 months. Each of them has also been ordered to perform 30 hours of community service and to pay $6.50 apiece in restitution to the court for the taxi fare they tried to avoid paying.
The teens were set to go to trial this week but pleaded guilty just before noon on the day of their trial to committing transportation fraud. Their pleas were made after a deal was struck between assistant Crown attorney Janet O'Brien and the father-and-son defence team of John and Chris Ecclestone.
O'Brien noted that she was agreeing to the deal partly because the case had already been set for trial on three previous occasions and Each time the victim had taken time off work to attend court.
Still, O'Brien said she wanted other young people to get the message that they can't assault someone who's making a citizen's arrest in defence of their rights.
Her comment struck a nerve with Chris Ecclestone, who represented the younger of the two girls.
He reacted as though his client was the victim.
"I would have serious concerns about taxi drivers getting the message that they can't chase people into houses and drag them out," he told the judge.
John Ecclestone went even further, suggesting that the cab driver's apprehension of the pair "had all the earmarks of a kidnapping." He also argued that the man needed a warrant before he followed his fleeing passengers into the apartment building and then held them for police.
O'Brien had told Justice Judith Beaman that the crime was committed after the cab driver was dispatched to pick up a call in the Cherry and Pine streets area.
It was 12:30 in the afternoon on June 27, 2007, and the girls at first told the driver to take them to Food Basics on Barrack Street. Then they said they wanted to go to the liquor store across the street.
When they reached their destination, however, the person they were expecting to meet wasn't there and the girls belatedly disclosed that they had no money to pay for their ride.
O'Brien said they convinced the cab driver to return them to an apartment building on Cherry Street, where he was promised they would get him his cash.
Beaman was told the cab driver insisted that one of the girls remain with the cab while the other went inside for the money. The older of the two stayed behind.
After only a few minutes, O'Brien said, the older girl suddenly bolted from the cab and ran into the building, the cab driver in pursuit.
She told the judge that he caught up with the pair at the end of a hallway, heading for an exit, and grabbed them to return them to his cab while he called police.
Beaman was told that the girls didn't go quietly, however. They kicked and screamed, scratched the taxi driver and one of them tried to bite him.
They were later described by police as abusive and unco-operative with the officers who arrested them as well.
The Ecclestones both maintained that their clients hadn't initially set out to shortchange the cab driver, even though they didn't have any money to pay for a cab when they first called Modern Taxi.
John Ecclestone said his client went to the LCBO that day expecting to be met by a woman she referred to as her "street mother." The lawyer told Beaman she thought she had an arrangement with the woman to meet at that spot and expected to be given some cash.
The problem arose, he said, when her "street mother" was "a complete no-show."
He also observed that the assault charges originally laid against his client and her friend had not gone ahead, causing him to bristle at the suggestion that any delay in bringing the case to trial was attributable to the defence.
In fact, he said, had there been no resolution and the case hadn't gone ahead this time, he would have brought a motion to have the charges shelved because of unreasonable delay in its prosecution.
Beaman finally stepped in to referee, telling the lawyers "we double-book all the time." She suggested the delay that caused wasn't anyone's fault.
She appeared to agree with the younger Ecclestone that the cab driver should not have chased the girls into the apartment building, but she told the girls,"you should not have got into the cab without the money to pay for it."
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Cab owner defends driver
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website
Posted By ROB TRIPP, WHIG-STANDARD POLICE REPORTER
The owner of Kingston's biggest cab company says one of his drivers has been unfairly criticized after passengers he was ferrying savagely beat a man on Bath Road.
"I think what he did was appropriate," Mark Greenwood, owner of Amey's Taxi, said yesterday.
Greenwood said the driver did what was necessary to protect himself in a volatile situation.
He said the company has received calls and complaints from people who wrongly want to blame the driver.
"He is shaken up," Greenwood said. "He's also a little concerned that one of these guys is going to be looking for him."
The driver was heading east on Bath Road about 1 a. m. Sunday after picking up six men in his van at a west-end bar.
They appeared agitated and were looking for a friend, but left the bar before finding him.
As the taxi approached Tanner Drive, the cabbie heard one of his passengers say, "There he is," and the sliding door of the van began to open.
The driver pulled over and watched two of his passengers stumble across the road to where two men were fighting. Four men remained in the taxi, Greenwood said.
The cab driver was frightened by what he saw, as the three assailants pummelled a victim for about a minute.
"He just witnessed a really brutal assault," Greenwood said. "He wants to get them out of the van as soon as possible."
The three men who had participated in the assault got back in the taxi and the cab driver pulled away. He could see that other cars had stopped, including another taxi, to help the victim of the attack.
The cabbie assumed that one of those other people who had stopped was calling police.
The driver feared he'd be assaulted if he called 911 or if he tried to eject the drunken passengers from the taxi.
"He didn't want to agitate anyone in the vehicle by trying to contact the police himself [or put] his own life in jeopardy when he knew the guy was going to be looked after and that someone had probably called the police," Greenwood said.
Before the cab reached its destination, police pulled it over on Concession Street, where they arrested the three men who participated in the assault.
Greenwood said police had called the Amey's dispatch office and the taxi was quickly located because it is GPS equipped.
The victim of the attack, a 28-year-old St. Lawrence College student, suffered a host of injuries, including a possible broken nose.
His assailants were charged with assault causing bodily harm.
Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard
Posted By ROB TRIPP, WHIG-STANDARD POLICE REPORTER
The owner of Kingston's biggest cab company says one of his drivers has been unfairly criticized after passengers he was ferrying savagely beat a man on Bath Road.
"I think what he did was appropriate," Mark Greenwood, owner of Amey's Taxi, said yesterday.
Greenwood said the driver did what was necessary to protect himself in a volatile situation.
He said the company has received calls and complaints from people who wrongly want to blame the driver.
"He is shaken up," Greenwood said. "He's also a little concerned that one of these guys is going to be looking for him."
The driver was heading east on Bath Road about 1 a. m. Sunday after picking up six men in his van at a west-end bar.
They appeared agitated and were looking for a friend, but left the bar before finding him.
As the taxi approached Tanner Drive, the cabbie heard one of his passengers say, "There he is," and the sliding door of the van began to open.
The driver pulled over and watched two of his passengers stumble across the road to where two men were fighting. Four men remained in the taxi, Greenwood said.
The cab driver was frightened by what he saw, as the three assailants pummelled a victim for about a minute.
"He just witnessed a really brutal assault," Greenwood said. "He wants to get them out of the van as soon as possible."
The three men who had participated in the assault got back in the taxi and the cab driver pulled away. He could see that other cars had stopped, including another taxi, to help the victim of the attack.
The cabbie assumed that one of those other people who had stopped was calling police.
The driver feared he'd be assaulted if he called 911 or if he tried to eject the drunken passengers from the taxi.
"He didn't want to agitate anyone in the vehicle by trying to contact the police himself [or put] his own life in jeopardy when he knew the guy was going to be looked after and that someone had probably called the police," Greenwood said.
Before the cab reached its destination, police pulled it over on Concession Street, where they arrested the three men who participated in the assault.
Greenwood said police had called the Amey's dispatch office and the taxi was quickly located because it is GPS equipped.
The victim of the attack, a 28-year-old St. Lawrence College student, suffered a host of injuries, including a possible broken nose.
His assailants were charged with assault causing bodily harm.
Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard
Monday, February 09, 2009
Two men beaten in brutal attacks
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website
Student, cabbie victims of assaults
A St. Lawrence College student was sent to hospital early yesterday morning following a brutal beating in the city's west end.
It was the second violent attack police investigated on the weekend. A 43-year-old Kingston man is facing assault charges after a attacking a cab driver early Saturday morning.
The college student wasn't robbed, but his attackers left him lying bleeding and beaten in a snowbank along Bath Road, police said.
The three men arrested and charged in the assault were drunk at the time, police said, and had never met the victim.
"Nobody knew him. These guys just picked him out," said Sgt. Alex Forsyth of the Kingston Police.
Forsyth said one of the attackers didn't even recall the attack after sobering up overnight in a police cell.
Police said the victim had gone to Ottawa with some friends for a stag party and returned to a home on Days Road before deciding to call it a night. He told his friends that he was going to walk home.
The 28-year-old man, who is from Kingston, was walking along Bath Road near Tanner when the attack took place.
Police said the victim heard someone run up from behind him before he felt a blow to the back of his head. The attacker then punch him in the face.
An Amey's taxi pulled up near the attack and let out two men. Police said the two men grabbed the victim and held him to the ground while the original attacker punch the victim in the face and body.
The beating r about a minute, police said, before the men hopped back into the taxi and drove off.
T he victim was left in the snowbank
with a deep cut on his lip, severe bruising to his temples, a possible broken nose and burns from being rubbed against the roadway, police said.
A witness at the scene called police. Officers were able to stop the cab carrying the three assailants. Forsyth said officers noticed blood on the men's hands, clothes and footwear.
Two of the men are 24 years old, the other 36. All are from Kingston.
They were taken for a bail hearing yesterday. The three men have been charged with assault causing bodily harm.
Police said the taxi driver was not involved in the attack.
*
Police said the attack on the cabbie early Saturday morning stemmed from a dispute over the fare for the ride, which amounted to less than $8.
Police said a Kingston and Amherst Taxi driver picked up a fare around 3:50 a. m. Saturday at Concession Street and Leroy Grant Drive. The passenger told the driver to take him to a home on Rosemund Crescent near Sir John A. Macdonald and John Counter boulevards.
When the taxi arrived at the home, the male passenger started a dispute over the cost of the ride -$7.50. Police said the passenger then confronted the driver and became violent.
Police said the man threatened to harm the driver, even shouting at one point that he would "punch [the driver] out."
Police said the passenger then grabbed the driver and hit him several times in the side of the head with a closed fist.
The attacker then grabbed the keys out of the ignition of the car and threw them into a nearby snowbank. He then grabbed the victim by his hair and started punching the driver in the head again as the attack tside the vehicle.
The driver was able to push the man into the snowbank, which slowed the attacker down for only a moment, police said. The attacker stood back up, police said, and ating on the taxi driver.
Police said two females in the area pulled the attacker off the driver before officers arrived.
Police said the driver had a bloody lip and marks from punches visible on his temple.
Police said the 43-year-old accused was drunk. He was held in a police cell overnight and released with conditions, with a date to appear in court in March.
Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard
Student, cabbie victims of assaults
A St. Lawrence College student was sent to hospital early yesterday morning following a brutal beating in the city's west end.
It was the second violent attack police investigated on the weekend. A 43-year-old Kingston man is facing assault charges after a attacking a cab driver early Saturday morning.
The college student wasn't robbed, but his attackers left him lying bleeding and beaten in a snowbank along Bath Road, police said.
The three men arrested and charged in the assault were drunk at the time, police said, and had never met the victim.
"Nobody knew him. These guys just picked him out," said Sgt. Alex Forsyth of the Kingston Police.
Forsyth said one of the attackers didn't even recall the attack after sobering up overnight in a police cell.
Police said the victim had gone to Ottawa with some friends for a stag party and returned to a home on Days Road before deciding to call it a night. He told his friends that he was going to walk home.
The 28-year-old man, who is from Kingston, was walking along Bath Road near Tanner when the attack took place.
Police said the victim heard someone run up from behind him before he felt a blow to the back of his head. The attacker then punch him in the face.
An Amey's taxi pulled up near the attack and let out two men. Police said the two men grabbed the victim and held him to the ground while the original attacker punch the victim in the face and body.
The beating r about a minute, police said, before the men hopped back into the taxi and drove off.
T he victim was left in the snowbank
with a deep cut on his lip, severe bruising to his temples, a possible broken nose and burns from being rubbed against the roadway, police said.
A witness at the scene called police. Officers were able to stop the cab carrying the three assailants. Forsyth said officers noticed blood on the men's hands, clothes and footwear.
Two of the men are 24 years old, the other 36. All are from Kingston.
They were taken for a bail hearing yesterday. The three men have been charged with assault causing bodily harm.
Police said the taxi driver was not involved in the attack.
*
Police said the attack on the cabbie early Saturday morning stemmed from a dispute over the fare for the ride, which amounted to less than $8.
Police said a Kingston and Amherst Taxi driver picked up a fare around 3:50 a. m. Saturday at Concession Street and Leroy Grant Drive. The passenger told the driver to take him to a home on Rosemund Crescent near Sir John A. Macdonald and John Counter boulevards.
When the taxi arrived at the home, the male passenger started a dispute over the cost of the ride -$7.50. Police said the passenger then confronted the driver and became violent.
Police said the man threatened to harm the driver, even shouting at one point that he would "punch [the driver] out."
Police said the passenger then grabbed the driver and hit him several times in the side of the head with a closed fist.
The attacker then grabbed the keys out of the ignition of the car and threw them into a nearby snowbank. He then grabbed the victim by his hair and started punching the driver in the head again as the attack tside the vehicle.
The driver was able to push the man into the snowbank, which slowed the attacker down for only a moment, police said. The attacker stood back up, police said, and ating on the taxi driver.
Police said two females in the area pulled the attacker off the driver before officers arrived.
Police said the driver had a bloody lip and marks from punches visible on his temple.
Police said the 43-year-old accused was drunk. He was held in a police cell overnight and released with conditions, with a date to appear in court in March.
Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard
Monday, February 02, 2009
Friday, January 09, 2009
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Update from Roy Ambury
At the November 19, 2008 Commission meeting, which could not happen because too few Commissioners were present, we discussed charges for failing to wear a seat belt.
I haven’t covered this for a while, and some changes have occurred, so here goes.
What may taxi owners and drivers do that most car owners and drivers may not do?
* Taxi owners may remove the shoulder-belt portion of the seat belt and the middle seat belt in the front seat of the vehicle. [Reg. 613, s. 7(1), paras. A and b.]
* The driver of taxi may choose not to wear the seat belt at all if he has a paying passenger in the taxi. [Reg. 613, s. 7(3)]
* The driver of taxi is not responsible for assuring that a child up to grade school age is wearing appropriate seat belts or is in a child seat EXCEPT when carrying a child to and from school under contract with a school board or other authority in charge of a school for the transportation of children. [Reg. 613, s. 8(1) and (2)]
For the exact words of the law of Ontario, I have extracted the following from Highway Traffic Act, Revised Statutes of Ontario 1990, CHAPTER H.8 and Highway Traffic Act Revised Regulations of Ontario 1990, Regulation 613, Amended to O. Reg. 522/06. Click here to view the entire document.
In the interests of brevity, I have deleted portions which are not germane to this topic. For clarity, I have added underline to section headings.
My source is: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90h08_e.htm#BK162.
I haven’t covered this for a while, and some changes have occurred, so here goes.
What may taxi owners and drivers do that most car owners and drivers may not do?
* Taxi owners may remove the shoulder-belt portion of the seat belt and the middle seat belt in the front seat of the vehicle. [Reg. 613, s. 7(1), paras. A and b.]
* The driver of taxi may choose not to wear the seat belt at all if he has a paying passenger in the taxi. [Reg. 613, s. 7(3)]
* The driver of taxi is not responsible for assuring that a child up to grade school age is wearing appropriate seat belts or is in a child seat EXCEPT when carrying a child to and from school under contract with a school board or other authority in charge of a school for the transportation of children. [Reg. 613, s. 8(1) and (2)]
For the exact words of the law of Ontario, I have extracted the following from Highway Traffic Act, Revised Statutes of Ontario 1990, CHAPTER H.8 and Highway Traffic Act Revised Regulations of Ontario 1990, Regulation 613, Amended to O. Reg. 522/06. Click here to view the entire document.
In the interests of brevity, I have deleted portions which are not germane to this topic. For clarity, I have added underline to section headings.
My source is: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90h08_e.htm#BK162.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Steer toward taxi safety
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website
OUR VIEW
Members of Kingston's taxi commission should browse the Internet and log on to www.taxi-library.org. It's worth their time and trouble, especially after last weekend's close encounter between a cab driver and a pocket knife.
Just hours after the Bob Dylan concert let out at the downtown K-Rock Centre, an intoxicated passenger riding in a Kingston cab pulled out a knife and threatened repeatedly to "poke" the driver. He also made insulting remarks about the driver's mother, but verbal abuse is considered part and parcel of a cabbie's lot.
Nevertheless, the driver was lucky and escaped without injury. So was another cab driver who had a knife pulled on him in the Bath Road and Queen Mary Road area two weeks ago. That incident erupted over a cigarette.
These were two very close calls - and the excuse the commission needs to revisit the issue of taxi safety in Kingston.
The website is a good place to start. Founded in 1999 by a former industry regulator from Winnipeg, the website serves as an information resource for the taxi industry and an online memorial to the 1,821 cab drivers who have been murdered on the job since 1917.
The site is reminiscent of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D. C. Like that famous stone wall, the website lists every victim of senseless cabbie violence by name. There's also a special section devoted to the Canadian slaughter: 170 cab driver homicides and counting.
A glance at the listings tells us right away that Kingston is better off than many Canadian cities. Miraculously, we have only one entry, but it's still fresh in the hearts and minds of many Kingston residents. David Krick, a 50-year-old Amey's driver, was stabbed to death by a fare he picked up on Father's Day in 2007.
Following Krick's cold-blooded killing, the Kingston taxi commission was under public pressure to review its safety protocols. At the time, Kingston cabs were not required to carry any equipment to protect the drivers; more than a year later they still aren't.
Some cabs have panic buttons that allow drivers to quickly signal an emergency to a dispatcher (the driver involved in Sunday's "poking" activated his emergency button but only after the passenger jumped out of the car). Most cabs are also equipped with GPS systems, which track a car's movement and speed.
After a six-month study, the commission concluded the installation of safety equipment in cabs - such as shields and cameras - should be voluntary. It found little support for mandatory safety equipment in cabs.
But commission chairman Ken Matthews left the door open to revisit taxi safety in six months' time.
That was 11 months ago.
Driving a cab in Canada is no safer than it was when Krick was killed. It's still a risky occupation and more dangerous than policing.
In the wake of Krick's death, the only tangible change made by Kingston's taxi regulators was to make driver education mandatory. That means drivers have to watch a safety video and review a booklet before their license is renewed.
There have been several violent attacks on Kingston cabbies since Krick died. Last weekend's attack was not unusual. The local taxi commission should be doing everything it can to ensure that Kingston continues to occupy only one line on www.taxi-library.org.
- - -
Taxi commission must do more to protect cab drivers
CRIME
OUR VIEW
Members of Kingston's taxi commission should browse the Internet and log on to www.taxi-library.org. It's worth their time and trouble, especially after last weekend's close encounter between a cab driver and a pocket knife.
Just hours after the Bob Dylan concert let out at the downtown K-Rock Centre, an intoxicated passenger riding in a Kingston cab pulled out a knife and threatened repeatedly to "poke" the driver. He also made insulting remarks about the driver's mother, but verbal abuse is considered part and parcel of a cabbie's lot.
Nevertheless, the driver was lucky and escaped without injury. So was another cab driver who had a knife pulled on him in the Bath Road and Queen Mary Road area two weeks ago. That incident erupted over a cigarette.
These were two very close calls - and the excuse the commission needs to revisit the issue of taxi safety in Kingston.
The website is a good place to start. Founded in 1999 by a former industry regulator from Winnipeg, the website serves as an information resource for the taxi industry and an online memorial to the 1,821 cab drivers who have been murdered on the job since 1917.
The site is reminiscent of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D. C. Like that famous stone wall, the website lists every victim of senseless cabbie violence by name. There's also a special section devoted to the Canadian slaughter: 170 cab driver homicides and counting.
A glance at the listings tells us right away that Kingston is better off than many Canadian cities. Miraculously, we have only one entry, but it's still fresh in the hearts and minds of many Kingston residents. David Krick, a 50-year-old Amey's driver, was stabbed to death by a fare he picked up on Father's Day in 2007.
Following Krick's cold-blooded killing, the Kingston taxi commission was under public pressure to review its safety protocols. At the time, Kingston cabs were not required to carry any equipment to protect the drivers; more than a year later they still aren't.
Some cabs have panic buttons that allow drivers to quickly signal an emergency to a dispatcher (the driver involved in Sunday's "poking" activated his emergency button but only after the passenger jumped out of the car). Most cabs are also equipped with GPS systems, which track a car's movement and speed.
After a six-month study, the commission concluded the installation of safety equipment in cabs - such as shields and cameras - should be voluntary. It found little support for mandatory safety equipment in cabs.
But commission chairman Ken Matthews left the door open to revisit taxi safety in six months' time.
That was 11 months ago.
Driving a cab in Canada is no safer than it was when Krick was killed. It's still a risky occupation and more dangerous than policing.
In the wake of Krick's death, the only tangible change made by Kingston's taxi regulators was to make driver education mandatory. That means drivers have to watch a safety video and review a booklet before their license is renewed.
There have been several violent attacks on Kingston cabbies since Krick died. Last weekend's attack was not unusual. The local taxi commission should be doing everything it can to ensure that Kingston continues to occupy only one line on www.taxi-library.org.
- - -
Taxi commission must do more to protect cab drivers
CRIME
Monday, November 17, 2008
Man charged after city cab driver threatened
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website
A 23-year-old Kingston man faces charges after he pulled a knife on a cab driver early yesterday morning.
Kingston Police said the cab driver was not injured in the incident.
Police said the driver, a 20-year veteran, picked up two men in the Hub around 1:20 a. m. yesterday. The men directed the cab driver to take them to a home in the west end near Bayridge Drive and Front Road.
Along the way, the two men, who were intoxicated, police said, began to argue with one another about whether they should head home or head to Denny's restaurant for a bite to eat.
They also argued with the cab driver about the route he was taking to the west end, police said.
Finally, the two men decided to go to Denny's in the RioCan Centre on Gardiners Road.
The restaurant is open 24 hours a day. The cab driver changed directions and started heading to the new destination, and, again, the 23-year-old was rude to the driver, police said.
It was at this point in the ride that the passenger made a derogatory remark about the driver's mother. Police said the man called the cab driver's mother "a filthy wh---."
The cab driver had had enough. He pulled the car over at Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard and MacPherson Avenue and ordered the men out of the car.
The location is the same one where police recovered the car of driver David Krick, who was killed on Father's Day in 2007.
The driver told the men there was no charge for the ride, but they had to get out of the vehicle.
Police said one of the passengers pulled a knife on the cab driver and made a jabbing motion toward him.
"You don't want to get poked, do you?" the man allegedly told the cab driver as he held the knife, which police later seized and described as a key-chain- sized jackknife.
The cab driver put up his hands, replied that he didn't want to "get poked." The man made the jabbing motion one more time, police said, and then exited the vehicle.
The cab driver, police said, pushed the emergency button in his car and locked the doors to his vehicle.
Another driver came by, responding to the emergency signal. The two drivers watched the two men and waited for police to arrive.
Officers arrived a short time later and arrested the men. Only one faces charges.
The 23-year-old faces one charge each of having a weapon dangerous to the public peace, uttering threats to cause death and assault with a weapon. Police said the man has no criminal record.
Police wouldn't release the company the taxi driver was with.
The incident was the second one this month. On Nov. 5, a man pulled a knife on a cab driver over a cigarette.
The driver was not injured in the incident near Bath and Queen Mary roads.
A 23-year-old Kingston man faces charges after he pulled a knife on a cab driver early yesterday morning.
Kingston Police said the cab driver was not injured in the incident.
Police said the driver, a 20-year veteran, picked up two men in the Hub around 1:20 a. m. yesterday. The men directed the cab driver to take them to a home in the west end near Bayridge Drive and Front Road.
Along the way, the two men, who were intoxicated, police said, began to argue with one another about whether they should head home or head to Denny's restaurant for a bite to eat.
They also argued with the cab driver about the route he was taking to the west end, police said.
Finally, the two men decided to go to Denny's in the RioCan Centre on Gardiners Road.
The restaurant is open 24 hours a day. The cab driver changed directions and started heading to the new destination, and, again, the 23-year-old was rude to the driver, police said.
It was at this point in the ride that the passenger made a derogatory remark about the driver's mother. Police said the man called the cab driver's mother "a filthy wh---."
The cab driver had had enough. He pulled the car over at Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard and MacPherson Avenue and ordered the men out of the car.
The location is the same one where police recovered the car of driver David Krick, who was killed on Father's Day in 2007.
The driver told the men there was no charge for the ride, but they had to get out of the vehicle.
Police said one of the passengers pulled a knife on the cab driver and made a jabbing motion toward him.
"You don't want to get poked, do you?" the man allegedly told the cab driver as he held the knife, which police later seized and described as a key-chain- sized jackknife.
The cab driver put up his hands, replied that he didn't want to "get poked." The man made the jabbing motion one more time, police said, and then exited the vehicle.
The cab driver, police said, pushed the emergency button in his car and locked the doors to his vehicle.
Another driver came by, responding to the emergency signal. The two drivers watched the two men and waited for police to arrive.
Officers arrived a short time later and arrested the men. Only one faces charges.
The 23-year-old faces one charge each of having a weapon dangerous to the public peace, uttering threats to cause death and assault with a weapon. Police said the man has no criminal record.
Police wouldn't release the company the taxi driver was with.
The incident was the second one this month. On Nov. 5, a man pulled a knife on a cab driver over a cigarette.
The driver was not injured in the incident near Bath and Queen Mary roads.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Paper or plastic?
You could use that credit card in the cab, but the drivers may not like you for it
From the Chicago Tribune online:
By Azam Ahmed | Chicago Tribune reporter
October 13, 2008
You've been there before: The cabbie mutters something about a broken machine or simply shakes his head and drives off.
Chicago requires its roughly 5,500 cabbies to accept credit cards, but many don't. Anyone who's been stranded—say, someone who has been booted from three cabs in a row for trying to pay with plastic—has to wonder why. It turns out there's a serious disincentive for accepting credit, and it's only gotten worse as it's become more expensive for drivers to keep their cabs on the road.
For starters, cabdrivers pay up to a 5 percent fee for accepting credit cards, and they can't pass it on. Your $20 cab ride may only cost the driver a dollar, but 10 of those fees a day can add up to more than $200 a month in losses.
"You know the price of gas is going up and has been going up," said Ron Flores, a cabdriver in Chicago. "And as for those [riders] who don't give you a tip, you're losing money by transporting them."
Another sticky point: Often an approved transaction later will be declined or disputed.
"Even when they do get that money, a lot of times it takes a number of days to receive the cash," said Jonathan Bullington, managing editor of Chicago Dispatcher, a monthly newspaper geared toward taxi drivers, chauffeurs and the riding public. "These guys need cash to pay for stuff [like] gas and food."
Also, the companies for which drivers work may make them wait a week or more to cash in their receipts. Passengers who want to play hardball can threaten to report a driver to the city's Department of Consumer Services.
Cabbies make another suggestion: Offer a bigger tip to the driver before he can pretend his machine is broken.
aahmed@tribune.com
From the Chicago Tribune online:
By Azam Ahmed | Chicago Tribune reporter
October 13, 2008
You've been there before: The cabbie mutters something about a broken machine or simply shakes his head and drives off.
Chicago requires its roughly 5,500 cabbies to accept credit cards, but many don't. Anyone who's been stranded—say, someone who has been booted from three cabs in a row for trying to pay with plastic—has to wonder why. It turns out there's a serious disincentive for accepting credit, and it's only gotten worse as it's become more expensive for drivers to keep their cabs on the road.
For starters, cabdrivers pay up to a 5 percent fee for accepting credit cards, and they can't pass it on. Your $20 cab ride may only cost the driver a dollar, but 10 of those fees a day can add up to more than $200 a month in losses.
"You know the price of gas is going up and has been going up," said Ron Flores, a cabdriver in Chicago. "And as for those [riders] who don't give you a tip, you're losing money by transporting them."
Another sticky point: Often an approved transaction later will be declined or disputed.
"Even when they do get that money, a lot of times it takes a number of days to receive the cash," said Jonathan Bullington, managing editor of Chicago Dispatcher, a monthly newspaper geared toward taxi drivers, chauffeurs and the riding public. "These guys need cash to pay for stuff [like] gas and food."
Also, the companies for which drivers work may make them wait a week or more to cash in their receipts. Passengers who want to play hardball can threaten to report a driver to the city's Department of Consumer Services.
Cabbies make another suggestion: Offer a bigger tip to the driver before he can pretend his machine is broken.
aahmed@tribune.com
Monday, September 15, 2008
Taxi brokers ready to strike
Fares not covering rising cost of gas
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website:
A group of taxi brokers say they are willing to go on strike - thereby eliminating a majority of cabs on city streets - if the taxi commission doesn't find a way to help them deal with the rising price of gasoline.
First the car owners would have to unionize, something that has been brewing for some time. Broker Joe Boucher said there is enough support to do it.
The union wouldn't include drivers. It would represent the middle-men in the local taxi business - the people who own cars and then sell their services to the local taxi companies.
Boucher said he hopes for good news this week when the taxi commission meets.
"There's a war brewing. We're trying to avert it, but we don't know if we can," he said.
The brokers are expected to be at the commission meeting Wednesday afternoon at City Hall.
"We don't want to strike, but they may make us," said broker Dennis Robinson.
"We're basically sick of being the Rodney Dangerfields of the small business world."
In August, fares across the city went up, the first increase in almost two years. A large number of brokers say it didn't match the reality of doing business in the industry these days.
The brokers have argued that drivers should be allowed to use the "extra" button on the meter to add to the cost of riding in a taxi when the price of gas goes up. When pump prices fall, the extra charges would be dropped as well, the brokers say
"What we want is a contingency plan if [gas prices] go up," said taxi broker Bram Fisher.
He said that his cars lose up to $50 a day because fares haven't kept up with costs. A contingency plan, he said, would go a long way to easing the minds of taxi owners.
"That's the problem right now. There's no peace of mind," Fisher said.
Brokers, or plateholders, pay the city a yearly fee for the right to operate a taxi in Kingston. The brokers then pay the taxi companies for the right to use the company's signs on cars. The deal allows the brokers' cars to access travel contracts the company has in place.
Brokers also pay the drivers. Whatever is left from fares after covering those costs -along with gas, insurance and maintenance -is profit.
The brokers are likely to argue this week that the raise in rates, while a good start, needs to go farther to help the drivers and brokers, some of whom feel excluded from the decision-making process.
"We don't have a voice and we're sick and tired of getting crapped on," Boucher said. "The profit margin is being squeezed out."
The plateholders' union, if formed, would negotiate for rate increases with city hall and the taxi commission, Boucher said.
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website:
A group of taxi brokers say they are willing to go on strike - thereby eliminating a majority of cabs on city streets - if the taxi commission doesn't find a way to help them deal with the rising price of gasoline.
First the car owners would have to unionize, something that has been brewing for some time. Broker Joe Boucher said there is enough support to do it.
The union wouldn't include drivers. It would represent the middle-men in the local taxi business - the people who own cars and then sell their services to the local taxi companies.
Boucher said he hopes for good news this week when the taxi commission meets.
"There's a war brewing. We're trying to avert it, but we don't know if we can," he said.
The brokers are expected to be at the commission meeting Wednesday afternoon at City Hall.
"We don't want to strike, but they may make us," said broker Dennis Robinson.
"We're basically sick of being the Rodney Dangerfields of the small business world."
In August, fares across the city went up, the first increase in almost two years. A large number of brokers say it didn't match the reality of doing business in the industry these days.
The brokers have argued that drivers should be allowed to use the "extra" button on the meter to add to the cost of riding in a taxi when the price of gas goes up. When pump prices fall, the extra charges would be dropped as well, the brokers say
"What we want is a contingency plan if [gas prices] go up," said taxi broker Bram Fisher.
He said that his cars lose up to $50 a day because fares haven't kept up with costs. A contingency plan, he said, would go a long way to easing the minds of taxi owners.
"That's the problem right now. There's no peace of mind," Fisher said.
Brokers, or plateholders, pay the city a yearly fee for the right to operate a taxi in Kingston. The brokers then pay the taxi companies for the right to use the company's signs on cars. The deal allows the brokers' cars to access travel contracts the company has in place.
Brokers also pay the drivers. Whatever is left from fares after covering those costs -along with gas, insurance and maintenance -is profit.
The brokers are likely to argue this week that the raise in rates, while a good start, needs to go farther to help the drivers and brokers, some of whom feel excluded from the decision-making process.
"We don't have a voice and we're sick and tired of getting crapped on," Boucher said. "The profit margin is being squeezed out."
The plateholders' union, if formed, would negotiate for rate increases with city hall and the taxi commission, Boucher said.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
From the Globe and Mail website
Taxis needed, but who will drive?
Vancouver officials seek more licences, but industry says few are willing to do the job
FRANCES BULA
Special to The Globe and Mail
September 2, 2008
VANCOUVER -- Vancouver is facing a shortage of cab drivers that will hamper efforts to improve taxi service in time for the 2010 Olympics.
That's the latest twist in this city's dismal taxi situation, as Vancouver tourism and city officials launch a new push to get more cab licences in preparation for the Games.
Letters are being sent to the province's Passenger Transportation Board from Mayor Sam Sullivan, Tourism Vancouver chairman Geoffrey Howes and Port Metro Vancouver president Gordon Houston urging the issuing of more licences.
The city's top bureaucrat in charge of Olympic planning adds the city needs better taxi service, something that was driven home to Dave Rudberg during his week in Beijing.
"Virtually every second vehicle there was a taxi," noted Mr. Rudberg, general manager of Olympic preparations. And it still wasn't enough.
Taxi companies say city organizations can call for all the new licences they want, but there aren't enough drivers willing and able to service any more additions to the fleet.
"Last year, they added 100 taxis plus vans [in Vancouver] but nobody wants to drive it," said Manjit Mander, the owner of Black Top, the second-largest of the four cab companies in Vancouver.
He said all kinds of factors are discouraging people from taking up cab driving. Drivers are required to go through a three-week training course that costs $600. Gas prices are up and business is down because American tourism is down. And, since the economy is booming in other sectors, people who might have turned to taxi driving before are getting jobs in construction and elsewhere.
"Our company got 33 new licences but I don't have enough drivers for them," Mr. Mander said. And it costs him $60 a day to pay the overhead for each car sitting in the lot.
The taxi issue is a conundrum for Vancouver, as it faces not only the Olympics but a growing tourism industry and a city-planning philosophy that encourages people to adapt to a more urban European lifestyle of compact neighbourhoods and no cars.
"We've actually got a double whammy when it comes to need," Councillor Suzanne Anton said. "We do not have enough for our traditional tourism business, like cruises. And now so many more people don't have cars."
The city, which is one of 21 municipalities in the region that each regulate cabs individually, had only 477 taxis licensed to operate until last June, when the transportation board authorized another 111. There are about another 650 licensed cabs in other municipalities in the region, but they are not authorized to pick up in the city.
Vancouver council set a goal of trying to have 720 cab licences in time for the Winter Olympics.
"More taxis in Vancouver are needed as part of our preparations for 2010," Mr. Sullivan wrote in a letter going to the board this week. "In addition to supporting transportation requirements during the Games, the months leading up to February, 2010, will feature a record number of special events all across Vancouver and an increased demand for transportation services downtown."
Port Metro Vancouver sent a letter last week, noting that cruise passengers waited up to two hours for a taxi the previous weekend.
The port's cruise marketing director, Greg Wirtz, said the waiting times have improved over the past year - but largely because the city had 100,000 fewer cruise-ship passengers.
A newcomer did apply for 57 new licenses this May, the same number the city had been hoping to add in 2008. But the company, which was going to call itself Pink Taxi, was turned down in July.
Board member David McLean, in a decision on the application by Rinat Miftakhutdinov of Larix Pacific Transit, said the company's business plan seemed to be incomplete.
Vancouver officials seek more licences, but industry says few are willing to do the job
FRANCES BULA
Special to The Globe and Mail
September 2, 2008
VANCOUVER -- Vancouver is facing a shortage of cab drivers that will hamper efforts to improve taxi service in time for the 2010 Olympics.
That's the latest twist in this city's dismal taxi situation, as Vancouver tourism and city officials launch a new push to get more cab licences in preparation for the Games.
Letters are being sent to the province's Passenger Transportation Board from Mayor Sam Sullivan, Tourism Vancouver chairman Geoffrey Howes and Port Metro Vancouver president Gordon Houston urging the issuing of more licences.
The city's top bureaucrat in charge of Olympic planning adds the city needs better taxi service, something that was driven home to Dave Rudberg during his week in Beijing.
"Virtually every second vehicle there was a taxi," noted Mr. Rudberg, general manager of Olympic preparations. And it still wasn't enough.
Taxi companies say city organizations can call for all the new licences they want, but there aren't enough drivers willing and able to service any more additions to the fleet.
"Last year, they added 100 taxis plus vans [in Vancouver] but nobody wants to drive it," said Manjit Mander, the owner of Black Top, the second-largest of the four cab companies in Vancouver.
He said all kinds of factors are discouraging people from taking up cab driving. Drivers are required to go through a three-week training course that costs $600. Gas prices are up and business is down because American tourism is down. And, since the economy is booming in other sectors, people who might have turned to taxi driving before are getting jobs in construction and elsewhere.
"Our company got 33 new licences but I don't have enough drivers for them," Mr. Mander said. And it costs him $60 a day to pay the overhead for each car sitting in the lot.
The taxi issue is a conundrum for Vancouver, as it faces not only the Olympics but a growing tourism industry and a city-planning philosophy that encourages people to adapt to a more urban European lifestyle of compact neighbourhoods and no cars.
"We've actually got a double whammy when it comes to need," Councillor Suzanne Anton said. "We do not have enough for our traditional tourism business, like cruises. And now so many more people don't have cars."
The city, which is one of 21 municipalities in the region that each regulate cabs individually, had only 477 taxis licensed to operate until last June, when the transportation board authorized another 111. There are about another 650 licensed cabs in other municipalities in the region, but they are not authorized to pick up in the city.
Vancouver council set a goal of trying to have 720 cab licences in time for the Winter Olympics.
"More taxis in Vancouver are needed as part of our preparations for 2010," Mr. Sullivan wrote in a letter going to the board this week. "In addition to supporting transportation requirements during the Games, the months leading up to February, 2010, will feature a record number of special events all across Vancouver and an increased demand for transportation services downtown."
Port Metro Vancouver sent a letter last week, noting that cruise passengers waited up to two hours for a taxi the previous weekend.
The port's cruise marketing director, Greg Wirtz, said the waiting times have improved over the past year - but largely because the city had 100,000 fewer cruise-ship passengers.
A newcomer did apply for 57 new licenses this May, the same number the city had been hoping to add in 2008. But the company, which was going to call itself Pink Taxi, was turned down in July.
Board member David McLean, in a decision on the application by Rinat Miftakhutdinov of Larix Pacific Transit, said the company's business plan seemed to be incomplete.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Cabbies still fear for their safety
Driver David Krick murdered a year ago
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website:
Amey's taxi driver mike thompson has parked car No. 14 in a shady spot on a quiet sidestreet just south of Princess Street for a noon time break.
This is a place of reverence for Kingston cabbies. Thompson laments the lack of safety measures in
cabs, a year after colleague David Krick was murdered.
"We think about it all the time," said Thompson, standing next to his car, yesterday, just a few steps from the Durham Street sidewalk where Krick, bleeding profusely from stab wounds, was left to die early on the morning of June 17, 2007.
A few steps east of Thompson's car, a shrine to Krick has appeared around a utility pole.
There are two tin cans of wilted pink and purple flowers, two candles and a small white ceramic cherub. Fastened to the pole with black electrical tape is a complete copy of the front page of the Whig-Standard from that dreadful morning, June 18, 2007, when fellow cabbies awoke to the news of the murder.
Thompson had shared the driving duties of car No. 71 with Krick a few years earlier.
"When I saw the paper Monday morning ... I damn near dropped," Thompson said. "I wasn't angry; I was upset because we didn't know the details."
Police quickly determined what they believe had happened. Krick, working an early-morning shift, picked up a lone male passenger on Wright Crescent and drove east. The passenger robbed Krick, stabbed him and left him on Durham Street before speeding away in his taxi.
The taxi was abandoned at an apartment complex just off Van Order Drive. The killer escaped.
Four months after the slaying -the first murder of a Kingston cab driver - police charged a 31-year-old convict who had been on parole with first-degree murder.
The passage of a year has barely dulled a mother's pain. Shirley Krick calls June 17 "the lonely day."
"It's the worst day of my life," she said in an interview yesterday.
"I'm still hurting," Krick said. "I don't think that lonely feeling of missing David -I don't think it's ever going to go away."
She cannot bring herself to visit the spot on Durham Street where rescuers found her mortally wounded son.
"I'll never go out there," she said. "I accidentally made a wrong turn off Princess Street one time and I saw the sign that said Durham and I said to my daughter, 'We gotta get off here.' "
Despite Krick's murder, the agency that regulates Kingston cabs chose not to make any safety equipment mandatory.
The taxi commission created a safety committee to consult drivers and taxi cab owners. A survey was distributed. Of 133 responses, 64 per cent said they wanted to see cameras installed in all cabs.
The commission decided "there was no clear mandate" and decreed that the installation of any safety devices was at the discretion of cab owners.
There have been several violent attacks on cab drivers since Krick's murder.
"I'd like to see a shield [installed] of some sort," Thompson said.
He said that, fearful of confrontations, many cabbies ignore the law requiring them to be seatbelted in at all times.
"That belt becomes a real hindrance if you have to fight with someone," he noted.
- - -
The case
WHAT:The murder of Amey's taxi driver David Krick, 50. WHEN:June 17, 2007, just before 7 a. m.
EVENTS:Police say Krick picked up a lone male passenger on Wright Crescent at 6:36 a. m. and was stabbed by that passenger and left bleeding on a sidewalk on Durham Street.
ACCUSED:On Oct. 11, police charged Richard Edmund Smith, 31, a federal prisoner, with first-degree murder; his common-law wife, Laura Jean Clow, 39, was charged Oct. 9 as an accessory after the fact. Smith, who was on parole at the time, has a 10-year record of violent crimes, including sexual assault.
SAFETY:Kingston's taxi commission studied safety measures for all cabs, including barriers and cameras, and decided not to make any safety equipment mandatory. Education for all drivers was made mandatory.
Copyright © 2008 The Whig Standard
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website:
Amey's taxi driver mike thompson has parked car No. 14 in a shady spot on a quiet sidestreet just south of Princess Street for a noon time break.
This is a place of reverence for Kingston cabbies. Thompson laments the lack of safety measures in
cabs, a year after colleague David Krick was murdered.
"We think about it all the time," said Thompson, standing next to his car, yesterday, just a few steps from the Durham Street sidewalk where Krick, bleeding profusely from stab wounds, was left to die early on the morning of June 17, 2007.
A few steps east of Thompson's car, a shrine to Krick has appeared around a utility pole.
There are two tin cans of wilted pink and purple flowers, two candles and a small white ceramic cherub. Fastened to the pole with black electrical tape is a complete copy of the front page of the Whig-Standard from that dreadful morning, June 18, 2007, when fellow cabbies awoke to the news of the murder.
Thompson had shared the driving duties of car No. 71 with Krick a few years earlier.
"When I saw the paper Monday morning ... I damn near dropped," Thompson said. "I wasn't angry; I was upset because we didn't know the details."
Police quickly determined what they believe had happened. Krick, working an early-morning shift, picked up a lone male passenger on Wright Crescent and drove east. The passenger robbed Krick, stabbed him and left him on Durham Street before speeding away in his taxi.
The taxi was abandoned at an apartment complex just off Van Order Drive. The killer escaped.
Four months after the slaying -the first murder of a Kingston cab driver - police charged a 31-year-old convict who had been on parole with first-degree murder.
The passage of a year has barely dulled a mother's pain. Shirley Krick calls June 17 "the lonely day."
"It's the worst day of my life," she said in an interview yesterday.
"I'm still hurting," Krick said. "I don't think that lonely feeling of missing David -I don't think it's ever going to go away."
She cannot bring herself to visit the spot on Durham Street where rescuers found her mortally wounded son.
"I'll never go out there," she said. "I accidentally made a wrong turn off Princess Street one time and I saw the sign that said Durham and I said to my daughter, 'We gotta get off here.' "
Despite Krick's murder, the agency that regulates Kingston cabs chose not to make any safety equipment mandatory.
The taxi commission created a safety committee to consult drivers and taxi cab owners. A survey was distributed. Of 133 responses, 64 per cent said they wanted to see cameras installed in all cabs.
The commission decided "there was no clear mandate" and decreed that the installation of any safety devices was at the discretion of cab owners.
There have been several violent attacks on cab drivers since Krick's murder.
"I'd like to see a shield [installed] of some sort," Thompson said.
He said that, fearful of confrontations, many cabbies ignore the law requiring them to be seatbelted in at all times.
"That belt becomes a real hindrance if you have to fight with someone," he noted.
- - -
The case
WHAT:The murder of Amey's taxi driver David Krick, 50. WHEN:June 17, 2007, just before 7 a. m.
EVENTS:Police say Krick picked up a lone male passenger on Wright Crescent at 6:36 a. m. and was stabbed by that passenger and left bleeding on a sidewalk on Durham Street.
ACCUSED:On Oct. 11, police charged Richard Edmund Smith, 31, a federal prisoner, with first-degree murder; his common-law wife, Laura Jean Clow, 39, was charged Oct. 9 as an accessory after the fact. Smith, who was on parole at the time, has a 10-year record of violent crimes, including sexual assault.
SAFETY:Kingston's taxi commission studied safety measures for all cabs, including barriers and cameras, and decided not to make any safety equipment mandatory. Education for all drivers was made mandatory.
Copyright © 2008 The Whig Standard
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Sisters' charges withdrawn; Women were suspected of robbing taxi driver at knife-point
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website:
Sisters charged in the summer of 2007 with the knife-point robbery of a Modern Taxi driver have had the charges against them withdrawn by the Crown.
The turnaround happened after defence lawyer Lawrence Silver convinced a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice that Jennifer Deano's constitutional right to legal counsel was violated when she was interviewed in July 2007, by Kingston Police Det. Brian J. Pete. Justice Judith Beaman ordered the exclusion of a statement Deano made during that interview which connected her to the locale where the cabby picked up his assailants.
Beaman was told that the Modern cab driver was dispatched to a call at Gordon Grocery, a store on the corner of Macauley and Montreal streets, around 5 a.m. on Dec. 22. There, he picked up two women bundled in parkas and drove them to the rear of 87 Compton St., where one of them pulled a knife, held it to his throat and demanded his cash.
The cab driver, in the statement he gave to police immediately afterwards, said he handed over about $70 from his pocket and the other female then reached across the front seat and helped herself to his loonies and toonies before they both fled.
A neighbour in the area, who owned a scanner and happened to be looking out a window at the time, saw two people in parkas run to the front of 87 Compton, where they appeared to try to buzz someone in the building. When they weren't successful, they took off running. At the same time, the man learned from his scanner that a taxi driver had run into trouble in the area.
Beaman was told that the neighbourhood man later gave a statement to police in which he described the two individuals, but thought the taller one might have been a male. The smaller one, he told police, was wearing a tighter jacket and he thought it might have been fur trimmed.
Pete testified that Kingston Police received an anonymous tip in January 2007, that the robbers were Jennifer Deano, 28, and her younger sister, Jessica Deano, 26.
He also testified that he put together photo lineups containing images of the sisters, but the witness didn't pick either woman out of the lineups. The detective didn't show the photo arrays to the taxi driver, he said, because the man never actually saw the faces of his assailants.
Pete said he wasn't able to secure any security footage from 87 Compton, which might have disclosed the identities of the robbers.
The detective admitted that he had no grounds to arrest either woman, based only on an anonymous tip. However, "it would have been neglectful to not follow that up," he testified and consequently, he was interested in talking to them. He just wasn't able to locate them, he told the judge.
In July 2007, however, he learned there was a warrant out for the elder sister on an unrelated matter and told the court he put a note on her file, directing that when she was picked up, he wanted to speak to her before she attended court.
Beaman learned that his opportunity had arrived after Deano was arrested July 16, 2007, not in relation to the warrant but as a result of concerns about her mental health. The warrant was subsequently brought into play, but, through a misunderstanding, Deano was taken for her bail hearing first and then brought back to the police station to be interviewed by Pete.
The judge was shown a video tape of their conversation, which captured Jennifer Deano asking Pete, "Shouldn't I have a lawyer or something?" almost immediately after he broached the subject of the robbery,
Pete told her, "You can speak to a lawyer whenever you want," but didn't immediately describe her legal options. Instead, he went on to tell her that he intended to talk to her about the robbery, which he believed she and her sister had committed. He told her that she didn't have to speak to him and cautioned her that if she did, anything she said could be used as evidence.
Eventually, Deano responded to one of his questions and spoke of a call for a taxi made from a pay phone near Gordon Grocery.
Immediately after that, Pete told her, "Jennifer, right now I'm going to arrest you for robbery," and explained her lawyer options. She told him she didn't have a lawyer of her own, but wanted to speak to duty counsel.
The video shows that she left the room after that and when she returned, Pete attempted to revisit her earlier comment about calling a cab from Gordon Grocery.
"I'm not supposed to say anything until I talk to my duty counsel tomorrow," she responded.
The video shows that Pete tried a couple of additional approaches, but Deano rebuffed his attempts to draw her into conversation. "I think I'll want to talk to duty counsel tomorrow," she told him. "I don't really understand all of this."
Silver argued that Pete should have stopped questioning his client and provided her with the means to exercise her right to talk to a lawyer immediately after she asked. He told Beaman "it's a hollow offer," when police tell someone they can talk to a lawyer and then delay providing the opportunity until some incriminating statement has been elicited.
Beaman found that Deano's rights were violated when the officer delayed facilitating her request for legal counsel. At the point where Pete began to question her, "it's my opinion her status had gone beyond that of a person of interest to that of a suspect," the judge said and, consequently, Deano should have been cautioned about her liability and afforded an opportunity to seek legal advice.
"I find Ms. Deano did assert her right to counsel," the judge said, adding that she wasn't afforded a timely opportunity to exercise that right.
She then excluded Deano's statement about calling a cab, leaving the Crown with no evidence to connect her - and by extension her sister - to the robbery that night.
suey@thewhig.com
Sisters charged in the summer of 2007 with the knife-point robbery of a Modern Taxi driver have had the charges against them withdrawn by the Crown.
The turnaround happened after defence lawyer Lawrence Silver convinced a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice that Jennifer Deano's constitutional right to legal counsel was violated when she was interviewed in July 2007, by Kingston Police Det. Brian J. Pete. Justice Judith Beaman ordered the exclusion of a statement Deano made during that interview which connected her to the locale where the cabby picked up his assailants.
Beaman was told that the Modern cab driver was dispatched to a call at Gordon Grocery, a store on the corner of Macauley and Montreal streets, around 5 a.m. on Dec. 22. There, he picked up two women bundled in parkas and drove them to the rear of 87 Compton St., where one of them pulled a knife, held it to his throat and demanded his cash.
The cab driver, in the statement he gave to police immediately afterwards, said he handed over about $70 from his pocket and the other female then reached across the front seat and helped herself to his loonies and toonies before they both fled.
A neighbour in the area, who owned a scanner and happened to be looking out a window at the time, saw two people in parkas run to the front of 87 Compton, where they appeared to try to buzz someone in the building. When they weren't successful, they took off running. At the same time, the man learned from his scanner that a taxi driver had run into trouble in the area.
Beaman was told that the neighbourhood man later gave a statement to police in which he described the two individuals, but thought the taller one might have been a male. The smaller one, he told police, was wearing a tighter jacket and he thought it might have been fur trimmed.
Pete testified that Kingston Police received an anonymous tip in January 2007, that the robbers were Jennifer Deano, 28, and her younger sister, Jessica Deano, 26.
He also testified that he put together photo lineups containing images of the sisters, but the witness didn't pick either woman out of the lineups. The detective didn't show the photo arrays to the taxi driver, he said, because the man never actually saw the faces of his assailants.
Pete said he wasn't able to secure any security footage from 87 Compton, which might have disclosed the identities of the robbers.
The detective admitted that he had no grounds to arrest either woman, based only on an anonymous tip. However, "it would have been neglectful to not follow that up," he testified and consequently, he was interested in talking to them. He just wasn't able to locate them, he told the judge.
In July 2007, however, he learned there was a warrant out for the elder sister on an unrelated matter and told the court he put a note on her file, directing that when she was picked up, he wanted to speak to her before she attended court.
Beaman learned that his opportunity had arrived after Deano was arrested July 16, 2007, not in relation to the warrant but as a result of concerns about her mental health. The warrant was subsequently brought into play, but, through a misunderstanding, Deano was taken for her bail hearing first and then brought back to the police station to be interviewed by Pete.
The judge was shown a video tape of their conversation, which captured Jennifer Deano asking Pete, "Shouldn't I have a lawyer or something?" almost immediately after he broached the subject of the robbery,
Pete told her, "You can speak to a lawyer whenever you want," but didn't immediately describe her legal options. Instead, he went on to tell her that he intended to talk to her about the robbery, which he believed she and her sister had committed. He told her that she didn't have to speak to him and cautioned her that if she did, anything she said could be used as evidence.
Eventually, Deano responded to one of his questions and spoke of a call for a taxi made from a pay phone near Gordon Grocery.
Immediately after that, Pete told her, "Jennifer, right now I'm going to arrest you for robbery," and explained her lawyer options. She told him she didn't have a lawyer of her own, but wanted to speak to duty counsel.
The video shows that she left the room after that and when she returned, Pete attempted to revisit her earlier comment about calling a cab from Gordon Grocery.
"I'm not supposed to say anything until I talk to my duty counsel tomorrow," she responded.
The video shows that Pete tried a couple of additional approaches, but Deano rebuffed his attempts to draw her into conversation. "I think I'll want to talk to duty counsel tomorrow," she told him. "I don't really understand all of this."
Silver argued that Pete should have stopped questioning his client and provided her with the means to exercise her right to talk to a lawyer immediately after she asked. He told Beaman "it's a hollow offer," when police tell someone they can talk to a lawyer and then delay providing the opportunity until some incriminating statement has been elicited.
Beaman found that Deano's rights were violated when the officer delayed facilitating her request for legal counsel. At the point where Pete began to question her, "it's my opinion her status had gone beyond that of a person of interest to that of a suspect," the judge said and, consequently, Deano should have been cautioned about her liability and afforded an opportunity to seek legal advice.
"I find Ms. Deano did assert her right to counsel," the judge said, adding that she wasn't afforded a timely opportunity to exercise that right.
She then excluded Deano's statement about calling a cab, leaving the Crown with no evidence to connect her - and by extension her sister - to the robbery that night.
suey@thewhig.com
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Taxi drivers' bill of rights makes courtesy the best policy B.C. rolls out safety regulations and fines for badly behaved cabbies and passengers
From the Globe and Mail Website:
IAN BAILEY
January 31, 2008
VANCOUVER -- Taxi drivers reluctant to take passengers on long rides to the suburbs could face fines of $288 as part of a new Taxi Bill of Rights for Metro Vancouver that also guarantees passengers a "courteous driver" and "quiet atmosphere."
The code, announced yesterday, was saluted by some in the industry for the rights it gives to drivers, who will be able to refuse service to unruly passengers and demand deposits for long trips.
Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon framed the plan as a bid to improve service in the Vancouver region as the 2010 Winter Olympics raise the prospect of a flood of visitors in the region needing prompt cab service. "We are inviting the world here in 2010, and we want to make sure we have got a world-class taxi industry we can be proud of in British Columbia," Mr. Falcon told a news conference. "The taxi drivers' bill of rights will go a long way to ensuring we get there."
Mr. Falcon said he is talking to the industry about options and ideas for ensuring a healthy supply of cabs during the 17-day Games, but said he needs time before disclosing them.
"There are some ideas that can help deal with that surge during the Olympics," he said, noting that 111 new taxi licences have been issued for Vancouver in the past six months.
The code of conduct includes provisions for passengers to be guaranteed the right to a clean taxi, to direct the route or expect the most economical route, and to travel with an assistance dog or portable mobility aid. Taxi drivers can refuse fares for their own health and safety or that of a passenger, if the person is acting in an offensive manner or won't provide a deposit.
The rules deal with issues that have arisen recently in the taxi industry. Some cabbies have refused to take passengers on long trips out to the suburbs. Drivers have been assaulted, and some have been cheated by customers who dash out of the vehicle after long trips without paying.
Last year, Mr. Falcon was himself denied a trip to Surrey one evening from the Vancouver entertainment district.
"This is really a balanced approach, because this is for passengers and drivers," said Gurvinder Mahil, president of Black Top, one of the region's largest taxi services.
Mr. Falcon is promising "undercover sting operations" to find drivers violating the rules on taking passengers to the suburbs.
Mr. Mahil welcomed the stings.
"If we want to protect our industry, it's good. If the driver is doing something wrong, why protect them?"
Mr. Falcon acknowledged his own troubles with cabs.
"I've had, actually, lots of experiences," Mr. Falcon said. "And I think the issue was there was some, probably, legitimate confusion on the part of taxi drivers not understanding their obligations that come with a taxi licence, and one of the things I think the taxi bill of rights does is really clarify what the obligations of drivers are, and what the expectations of drivers are," he said.
"I think we will see an improvement, but it will not happen overnight."
New Democrat Raj Chouhan, who has been dealing with the issue for the opposition, called the code a "step in the right direction," but hoped that the government would provide resources to police to protect cabbies by promptly responding to reports of assault.
A spokesman for the minister was unable to clarify what cash penalties might be imposed on cabbies who violate the other measures of the conduct code, such as not providing a clean cab.
IAN BAILEY
January 31, 2008
VANCOUVER -- Taxi drivers reluctant to take passengers on long rides to the suburbs could face fines of $288 as part of a new Taxi Bill of Rights for Metro Vancouver that also guarantees passengers a "courteous driver" and "quiet atmosphere."
The code, announced yesterday, was saluted by some in the industry for the rights it gives to drivers, who will be able to refuse service to unruly passengers and demand deposits for long trips.
Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon framed the plan as a bid to improve service in the Vancouver region as the 2010 Winter Olympics raise the prospect of a flood of visitors in the region needing prompt cab service. "We are inviting the world here in 2010, and we want to make sure we have got a world-class taxi industry we can be proud of in British Columbia," Mr. Falcon told a news conference. "The taxi drivers' bill of rights will go a long way to ensuring we get there."
Mr. Falcon said he is talking to the industry about options and ideas for ensuring a healthy supply of cabs during the 17-day Games, but said he needs time before disclosing them.
"There are some ideas that can help deal with that surge during the Olympics," he said, noting that 111 new taxi licences have been issued for Vancouver in the past six months.
The code of conduct includes provisions for passengers to be guaranteed the right to a clean taxi, to direct the route or expect the most economical route, and to travel with an assistance dog or portable mobility aid. Taxi drivers can refuse fares for their own health and safety or that of a passenger, if the person is acting in an offensive manner or won't provide a deposit.
The rules deal with issues that have arisen recently in the taxi industry. Some cabbies have refused to take passengers on long trips out to the suburbs. Drivers have been assaulted, and some have been cheated by customers who dash out of the vehicle after long trips without paying.
Last year, Mr. Falcon was himself denied a trip to Surrey one evening from the Vancouver entertainment district.
"This is really a balanced approach, because this is for passengers and drivers," said Gurvinder Mahil, president of Black Top, one of the region's largest taxi services.
Mr. Falcon is promising "undercover sting operations" to find drivers violating the rules on taking passengers to the suburbs.
Mr. Mahil welcomed the stings.
"If we want to protect our industry, it's good. If the driver is doing something wrong, why protect them?"
Mr. Falcon acknowledged his own troubles with cabs.
"I've had, actually, lots of experiences," Mr. Falcon said. "And I think the issue was there was some, probably, legitimate confusion on the part of taxi drivers not understanding their obligations that come with a taxi licence, and one of the things I think the taxi bill of rights does is really clarify what the obligations of drivers are, and what the expectations of drivers are," he said.
"I think we will see an improvement, but it will not happen overnight."
New Democrat Raj Chouhan, who has been dealing with the issue for the opposition, called the code a "step in the right direction," but hoped that the government would provide resources to police to protect cabbies by promptly responding to reports of assault.
A spokesman for the minister was unable to clarify what cash penalties might be imposed on cabbies who violate the other measures of the conduct code, such as not providing a clean cab.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Saturday, December 29, 2007
'It was an isolated incident'; Cabbie's murder won't result in new safety measures for drivers
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website:
People who work in the most dangerous occupation in Kingston won't get the protection of any mandatory safety measures. The area's taxi commission, the independent body that oversees the industry, has decided not to order the installation of any safety equipment in Kingston cabs, despite the murder of a veteran cab driver.
"Taxi drivers thought it was an isolated case and I don't think they wanted us to take any action," said Ken Matthews, chairman of the commission.
Kingston cabs are not required to be equipped with any gear to protect drivers. Some cabs have panic buttons that allow drivers to quickly signal an emergency to a dispatcher.
Matthews said the commission might revisit the idea of mandatory equipment within six months.
"There's still a possibility, but right now there wasn't too much interest," he said.
The decision this month follows roughly six months of study by a 12-member committee formed by the commission. The committee included nine people who own and drive taxis. Among the nine were the three owners of the area's largest taxi companies.
The commission endorsed the recommendation of the committee that the installation of safety gear, such as cameras or partitions, should be voluntary.
"We decided that they could put in whatever they wanted to put in," said Matthews.
He said the safety committee concluded that there is little support in the industry for mandatory equipment for all cabs.
Doug Cox, who owns Kingston Amherst Taxi company and chaired the committee, said only 49 of roughly 300 drivers responded to a survey asking what equipment should be installed.
The best response came from owners, who did not believe the Krick murder was a sign of widespread problems, he said.
"That's what a lot of the [owners] felt, it was an isolated incident," Cox said.
Matthews said he was surprised that there wasn't stronger support for mandatory safety measures.
"I think it may be wise to have cameras," he said.
Safety was reviewed after the June 17 murder of cabbie David Krick. Krick was stabbed to death by a passenger he picked up early on Father's Day morning. A federal parolee was later charged with murder.
Matthews acknowledged there was a "hue and cry" immediately after Krick's murder but he said concern waned.
Cab driver Shelley Scott doesn't agree.
"I'm more than disappointed," said Scott. "I don't know what more it will take to make something happen.
"We lost one driver; how many more will it take to make something mandatory?"
Scott was driving the morning Krick was killed and she was one of the first cabbies to respond to his distress call. She found Krick lying on a sidewalk on Durham Street, bleeding profusely.
Scott helped a police officer administer first aid, but Krick was pronounced dead at hospital.
She believes all cabs should have safety equipment.
"I don't know any other job where something like this would happen and something wasn't done," she said.
Between 1995 and 2005, 25 cab drivers were murdered on the job in Canada, making it the deadliest legal occupation, according to Statistics Canada. In the same period, 18 police officers were killed on duty.
Amherst taxi driver Jim Moriarty believes all cabs should have cameras. He calculated that a fivecent fare hike would collect enough in three years to pay for cameras in every taxi.
"It just proves that my life isn't worth a nickel," Moriarty said. "We're going to need another dead body."
He said profit margins for taxi owners are slim and they don't have to make the job safe since drivers are disposable.
"You can be hired and fired in this industry in a heartbeat," he said.
A veteran taxi driver and owner in Toronto who spearheaded a campaign for safety equipment said Kingston drivers deserve mandatory safety measures.
"I think it's absolutely atrocious that they could come back and recommend it be on a voluntary basis," said Gerry Manley, who lobbied Toronto regulators for 13 years before cameras were made mandatory.
Violence against Toronto cabbies has declined substantially since cameras were introduced.
Voluntary safety measures in Kingston won't work, Manley said.
"That's ridiculous because it'll never get done," he said. "There's no taxi owner or operator ... 99.99 per cent of them will never put out five cents for safety equipment to protect their drivers unless they're mandated to do it."
Manley rejects economic arguments, noting that safety equipment is a business expense that can be written off.
Kingston's commission ordered that all cab drivers watch a safety video and review a booklet before renewing their taxi licences.
"The video is a wonderful reminder, but it doesn't address what happens when someone is hell bent on stabbing you," Scott said.
Assaults on Kingston cabbies are not unusual although Krick's murder is believed to be the first slaying of a taxi driver.
Drivers more often face belligerent, drunken and foul-mouthed passengers, including many who try to skip out on their fares.
Moriarty said there have been at least three violent attacks on Kingston cabbies since Krick's murder.
rtripp@thewhig.com
People who work in the most dangerous occupation in Kingston won't get the protection of any mandatory safety measures. The area's taxi commission, the independent body that oversees the industry, has decided not to order the installation of any safety equipment in Kingston cabs, despite the murder of a veteran cab driver.
"Taxi drivers thought it was an isolated case and I don't think they wanted us to take any action," said Ken Matthews, chairman of the commission.
Kingston cabs are not required to be equipped with any gear to protect drivers. Some cabs have panic buttons that allow drivers to quickly signal an emergency to a dispatcher.
Matthews said the commission might revisit the idea of mandatory equipment within six months.
"There's still a possibility, but right now there wasn't too much interest," he said.
The decision this month follows roughly six months of study by a 12-member committee formed by the commission. The committee included nine people who own and drive taxis. Among the nine were the three owners of the area's largest taxi companies.
The commission endorsed the recommendation of the committee that the installation of safety gear, such as cameras or partitions, should be voluntary.
"We decided that they could put in whatever they wanted to put in," said Matthews.
He said the safety committee concluded that there is little support in the industry for mandatory equipment for all cabs.
Doug Cox, who owns Kingston Amherst Taxi company and chaired the committee, said only 49 of roughly 300 drivers responded to a survey asking what equipment should be installed.
The best response came from owners, who did not believe the Krick murder was a sign of widespread problems, he said.
"That's what a lot of the [owners] felt, it was an isolated incident," Cox said.
Matthews said he was surprised that there wasn't stronger support for mandatory safety measures.
"I think it may be wise to have cameras," he said.
Safety was reviewed after the June 17 murder of cabbie David Krick. Krick was stabbed to death by a passenger he picked up early on Father's Day morning. A federal parolee was later charged with murder.
Matthews acknowledged there was a "hue and cry" immediately after Krick's murder but he said concern waned.
Cab driver Shelley Scott doesn't agree.
"I'm more than disappointed," said Scott. "I don't know what more it will take to make something happen.
"We lost one driver; how many more will it take to make something mandatory?"
Scott was driving the morning Krick was killed and she was one of the first cabbies to respond to his distress call. She found Krick lying on a sidewalk on Durham Street, bleeding profusely.
Scott helped a police officer administer first aid, but Krick was pronounced dead at hospital.
She believes all cabs should have safety equipment.
"I don't know any other job where something like this would happen and something wasn't done," she said.
Between 1995 and 2005, 25 cab drivers were murdered on the job in Canada, making it the deadliest legal occupation, according to Statistics Canada. In the same period, 18 police officers were killed on duty.
Amherst taxi driver Jim Moriarty believes all cabs should have cameras. He calculated that a fivecent fare hike would collect enough in three years to pay for cameras in every taxi.
"It just proves that my life isn't worth a nickel," Moriarty said. "We're going to need another dead body."
He said profit margins for taxi owners are slim and they don't have to make the job safe since drivers are disposable.
"You can be hired and fired in this industry in a heartbeat," he said.
A veteran taxi driver and owner in Toronto who spearheaded a campaign for safety equipment said Kingston drivers deserve mandatory safety measures.
"I think it's absolutely atrocious that they could come back and recommend it be on a voluntary basis," said Gerry Manley, who lobbied Toronto regulators for 13 years before cameras were made mandatory.
Violence against Toronto cabbies has declined substantially since cameras were introduced.
Voluntary safety measures in Kingston won't work, Manley said.
"That's ridiculous because it'll never get done," he said. "There's no taxi owner or operator ... 99.99 per cent of them will never put out five cents for safety equipment to protect their drivers unless they're mandated to do it."
Manley rejects economic arguments, noting that safety equipment is a business expense that can be written off.
Kingston's commission ordered that all cab drivers watch a safety video and review a booklet before renewing their taxi licences.
"The video is a wonderful reminder, but it doesn't address what happens when someone is hell bent on stabbing you," Scott said.
Assaults on Kingston cabbies are not unusual although Krick's murder is believed to be the first slaying of a taxi driver.
Drivers more often face belligerent, drunken and foul-mouthed passengers, including many who try to skip out on their fares.
Moriarty said there have been at least three violent attacks on Kingston cabbies since Krick's murder.
rtripp@thewhig.com
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
Alleged accessory makes bail; Woman charged in connection to cabbie's murder
From the Whig-Standard Website:
By Sue Yanagisawa
A Kingston woman charged last month with being an accessory after the fact to the brutal killing in June of veteran taxi driver David Krick has been released from custody to await her trial.
Laura Jean Clow, 39, was given bail without a hearing yesterday by Superior Court Justice Cheryl Robertson. The decision followed a short pretrial discussion in the judge's chambers with assistant Crown attorney Ross Drummond and Clow's lawyer, Mike Mandelcorn.
Drummond consented to Clow being released with one surety, a female friend who has agreed to guarantee that Clow abides by all of her conditions. The court also required a $5,000 bond as a hedge against her compliance, but without any cash being deposited with the court. Under the conditions of her bail, Clow must: continue to live at her Carruthers Avenue apartment; report weekly to Det.-Sgt. Bill Kennedy, who's in charge of the homicide case; and maintain daily contact with her surety, either in person or by telephone.
She's barred from having any weapons and forbidden from communicating with anyone in the slain cab driver's family or with the man accused of killing Krick, 31-year-old Richard Edmund Smith, or with members of his family - with one exception.
Clow has been in custody since her arrest Oct. 9 and has previously been identified by police as Smith's common-law wife.
Police have said she has no criminal record.
Smith, conversely, is a violent federal parolee, originally from Hamilton, who was sent to Kingston following convictions in 2003 for sexual assault with a weapon, forcible confinement, robbery and other charges. He was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison at the time. He was paroled in May 2005, had his parole suspended briefly the same year, then put back on the street.
He was free on June 17, when Krick was stabbed to death. Police believe the attacker was a passenger the 50-year-old cabbie picked up around 6:30 a.m. on Wright Crescent.
Kingston Police also believe Krick's killer robbed him of a small amount of cash before abandoning him, bleeding, on the sidewalk of Durham Street, and stealing his cab.
The taxi was tracked with a Global Positioning System and determined to have taken a meandering route after Krick was stabbed, ending up at an apartment complex on MacPherson Avenue, about three blocks from Clow's apartment.
The killer abandoned the cab at the apartment complex and fled, eluding police.
Smith's parole was suspended again and he was returned to prison in August to complete his original sentence. His warrant of committal is due to expire on the Milton charges at the end of this month.
He wasn't charged with Krick's murder until mid-October, several days after Clow's arrest, and he remains in Collins Bay Penitentiary.
suey@thewhig.com
By Sue Yanagisawa
A Kingston woman charged last month with being an accessory after the fact to the brutal killing in June of veteran taxi driver David Krick has been released from custody to await her trial.
Laura Jean Clow, 39, was given bail without a hearing yesterday by Superior Court Justice Cheryl Robertson. The decision followed a short pretrial discussion in the judge's chambers with assistant Crown attorney Ross Drummond and Clow's lawyer, Mike Mandelcorn.
Drummond consented to Clow being released with one surety, a female friend who has agreed to guarantee that Clow abides by all of her conditions. The court also required a $5,000 bond as a hedge against her compliance, but without any cash being deposited with the court. Under the conditions of her bail, Clow must: continue to live at her Carruthers Avenue apartment; report weekly to Det.-Sgt. Bill Kennedy, who's in charge of the homicide case; and maintain daily contact with her surety, either in person or by telephone.
She's barred from having any weapons and forbidden from communicating with anyone in the slain cab driver's family or with the man accused of killing Krick, 31-year-old Richard Edmund Smith, or with members of his family - with one exception.
Clow has been in custody since her arrest Oct. 9 and has previously been identified by police as Smith's common-law wife.
Police have said she has no criminal record.
Smith, conversely, is a violent federal parolee, originally from Hamilton, who was sent to Kingston following convictions in 2003 for sexual assault with a weapon, forcible confinement, robbery and other charges. He was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison at the time. He was paroled in May 2005, had his parole suspended briefly the same year, then put back on the street.
He was free on June 17, when Krick was stabbed to death. Police believe the attacker was a passenger the 50-year-old cabbie picked up around 6:30 a.m. on Wright Crescent.
Kingston Police also believe Krick's killer robbed him of a small amount of cash before abandoning him, bleeding, on the sidewalk of Durham Street, and stealing his cab.
The taxi was tracked with a Global Positioning System and determined to have taken a meandering route after Krick was stabbed, ending up at an apartment complex on MacPherson Avenue, about three blocks from Clow's apartment.
The killer abandoned the cab at the apartment complex and fled, eluding police.
Smith's parole was suspended again and he was returned to prison in August to complete his original sentence. His warrant of committal is due to expire on the Milton charges at the end of this month.
He wasn't charged with Krick's murder until mid-October, several days after Clow's arrest, and he remains in Collins Bay Penitentiary.
suey@thewhig.com
Monday, November 19, 2007
Committee considers accessible taxis; Pilot project would involve three cabs
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website:
When Mary Margaret Dauphinee needs to get across town, she has to book her ride two weeks in advance.
Dauphinee uses an accessible scooter to get around. The Kingston Access Bus can get her from her apartment by the Kingston Centre to the west end or downtown, but she has to make her plans ahead of time.
Unfortunately, Kingston doesn't have any accessible taxis.
"A lot of people would use the taxis. A lot of people can afford them and would be willing to use them for the convenience," Dauphinee said.
As vice chair of the city's accessibility committee, Dauphinee has heard enough from those who face accessibility issues that it has become one of the main goals of the committee for 2008.
City hall licenses all taxis in Kingston and can hand out permits for companies to have accessible vehicles.
Work is underway to launch a pilot project that would see three accessible taxis in the city. Unlike the Access Bus, they would be available throughout the day and not require booking weeks in advance.
"Certainly taxis would be very good," said Glenn Outhwaite, who joined the committee last year shortly after he started using a wheelchair.
"It will happen. It's just a process we have to go through, but it's just a matter of time."
The committee identified the creation of an accessible taxi program as a priority in its 2008 report, that was released last week and will be the focus of a public meeting Wednesday night. Based on the input from the meeting, the committee and city staff will make additions or revisions to the document before council accepts it next month.
The accessibility committee writes in a report that it will outline options for the city to "motivate, and/or penalize local taxi companies, to put accessible vehicle(s) in their fleet."
The accessibility report is an evaluation of how far the city has come, and how far is still has to go to become completely accessible.
"... the widely held opinion of the longest-serving [committee] members is that there has been more proactivity regarding planning for accessibility in more City of Kingston departments than has been seen in previous years," the report says.
The report also includes a plan for 2008 that lays out what the accessibility committee plans to do and what projects it believes are important issues for the city.
Among those issues is that of accessible taxis, vans or cars that would be able to accommodate someone in a wheelchair inside the vehicle without the person having to leave their chair.
"Despite demand, Kingston-based private taxicab operators, have found that they can no longer economically justify offering accessible taxi vehicles for people using wheelchairs [or] scooters," the report says. "Without accessible taxicabs, Kingston has a void in transportation services available."
The accessible taxis would give residents in wheelchairs an alternative from the Access Bus, the report says. Not everyone qualifies for the Access Bus and the service cannot always meet demand, the report notes.
"A private taxicab company can offer a more flexible service than publicly operated accessible buses," the committee writes.
The issue right now is cost, Dauphinee said. The committee will look at options about how to license vehicles, possibly providing a financial incentive to purchase vehicles or setting a minimum fare for accessible taxis, she said.
Outhwaite said demand for the service would only increase if it becomes a reality.
"Our population is getting older," he said. "You're going to have more demand in the system."
jpress@thewhig.com
What, where
The 2008 accessibility plan can be downloaded online at http://www.cityofkingston.ca/cityhall/committees/accessibility/theplan.asp. A public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday night at 5 p.m. in the Loyalist Room of City Hall.
When Mary Margaret Dauphinee needs to get across town, she has to book her ride two weeks in advance.
Dauphinee uses an accessible scooter to get around. The Kingston Access Bus can get her from her apartment by the Kingston Centre to the west end or downtown, but she has to make her plans ahead of time.
Unfortunately, Kingston doesn't have any accessible taxis.
"A lot of people would use the taxis. A lot of people can afford them and would be willing to use them for the convenience," Dauphinee said.
As vice chair of the city's accessibility committee, Dauphinee has heard enough from those who face accessibility issues that it has become one of the main goals of the committee for 2008.
City hall licenses all taxis in Kingston and can hand out permits for companies to have accessible vehicles.
Work is underway to launch a pilot project that would see three accessible taxis in the city. Unlike the Access Bus, they would be available throughout the day and not require booking weeks in advance.
"Certainly taxis would be very good," said Glenn Outhwaite, who joined the committee last year shortly after he started using a wheelchair.
"It will happen. It's just a process we have to go through, but it's just a matter of time."
The committee identified the creation of an accessible taxi program as a priority in its 2008 report, that was released last week and will be the focus of a public meeting Wednesday night. Based on the input from the meeting, the committee and city staff will make additions or revisions to the document before council accepts it next month.
The accessibility committee writes in a report that it will outline options for the city to "motivate, and/or penalize local taxi companies, to put accessible vehicle(s) in their fleet."
The accessibility report is an evaluation of how far the city has come, and how far is still has to go to become completely accessible.
"... the widely held opinion of the longest-serving [committee] members is that there has been more proactivity regarding planning for accessibility in more City of Kingston departments than has been seen in previous years," the report says.
The report also includes a plan for 2008 that lays out what the accessibility committee plans to do and what projects it believes are important issues for the city.
Among those issues is that of accessible taxis, vans or cars that would be able to accommodate someone in a wheelchair inside the vehicle without the person having to leave their chair.
"Despite demand, Kingston-based private taxicab operators, have found that they can no longer economically justify offering accessible taxi vehicles for people using wheelchairs [or] scooters," the report says. "Without accessible taxicabs, Kingston has a void in transportation services available."
The accessible taxis would give residents in wheelchairs an alternative from the Access Bus, the report says. Not everyone qualifies for the Access Bus and the service cannot always meet demand, the report notes.
"A private taxicab company can offer a more flexible service than publicly operated accessible buses," the committee writes.
The issue right now is cost, Dauphinee said. The committee will look at options about how to license vehicles, possibly providing a financial incentive to purchase vehicles or setting a minimum fare for accessible taxis, she said.
Outhwaite said demand for the service would only increase if it becomes a reality.
"Our population is getting older," he said. "You're going to have more demand in the system."
jpress@thewhig.com
What, where
The 2008 accessibility plan can be downloaded online at http://www.cityofkingston.ca/cityhall/committees/accessibility/theplan.asp. A public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday night at 5 p.m. in the Loyalist Room of City Hall.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Parolee charged with murder; Cabbie David Krick died on Father's Day
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website:
Police believe a Kingston taxi driver was robbed and stabbed to death by a 31-year-old federal parolee with a 10-year history of violent crimes including sexual assault.
On Thursday night, Richard Edmund Smith was arrested at Collins Bay penitentiary and charged with first-degree murder in the Father's Day slaying of Amey's taxi driver David Krick.
The robbery likely netted less than $100.
Krick's brother Raymond, one of four family members who attended a news conference yesterday at police headquarters, thanked detectives.
"I do appreciate all the work you guys have done," Raymond Krick said, speaking to six investigators. "It does give you some closure knowing this guy's not out there now."
Krick's sister-in-law, Robyn Lawlor, said the arrest brings some peace of mind.
"It's been a long wait, a long four months," she said. "It goes from being very upset because of the death to anger."
Smith was free from prison on full parole, although police say he was a high risk to reoffend, at the time Krick was murdered on June 17.
Smith is serving a four-year, eight-month sentence for sexual assault with a weapon, forcible confinement, robbery and other minor offences.
He was convicted in Milton in April 2003 after he forced a woman to perform oral sex on him by threatening her with a knife, according to National Parole Board records.
Smith approached a woman randomly in a doughnut shop parking lot and ordered her into her car, where the attack took place. At one point, he ran the tip of the knife down her back.
"He's been in and out of institutions for a number of years," Det. Sgt. Bill Kennedy said at the news conference yesterday.
Smith has a criminal record dating to 1993 that includes convictions for domestic violence, impaired driving and property crimes, according to the parole records.
They document a pattern of "dysfunctional relationships with vulnerable women."
Smith has admitted being addicted to drugs and pornography.
When he was paroled in May 2005, he was barred from consuming alcohol or drugs or visiting strip clubs. At the time, he was considered a "moderate risk for sexual recidivism and domestic violence."
Two months later, a woman with whom he was having a relationship called his parole officer to report that Smith was abusive, drinking to excess and driving while drunk.
Smith's parole was suspended, but he was released again after the board concluded "it is difficult to see reliable and persuasive information to conclude without any doubt that you had been engaged in the activities that were alleged to have occurred."
Kennedy, who is in charge of the murder probe, would not discuss the evidence that police believe links Smith to the crime.
"I'm not going to comment at all on any of the evidence," he said.
Police have received forensic reports but Kennedy would not discuss the results.
Kennedy said Smith has not made a statement.
"Right now, I believe he's being somewhat quiet," he said.
Smith, dressed in a white shirt and dark wind pants, did not speak at his court appearance yesterday afternoon. He'll be back in court Oct. 30.
On Tuesday, police arrested Smith's common-law wife, Laura Jean Clow, 39, and charged her as an accessory after the fact. She appeared in court Wednesday and will be back in court Monday.
"I'm not going to disclose exactly what her role is in this," Kennedy said. He said Clow does not have a criminal record.
She lives at 117 Carruthers Ave., according to court records, about three blocks east of the spot where Krick's taxi was abandoned the day he was killed.
Smith, who is originally from Hamilton, was arrested by Kingston Police and returned to prison on Aug. 1 for breaching conditions of his parole. At the time, police were investigating him.
Police Chief Bill Closs said there is no reason for Smith to be living in Kingston, except for the presence of eight federal penitentiaries in the area.
"I believe that David Krick would be alive today if Kingston were not the prison capital of Canada, if Corrections Canada could do a better job of rehabilitating people, if Canada did not have a revolving door in and out of the justice system and frankly if the Kingston Police had the ability to monitor what we consider to be violent offenders, sex offenders, 24/7, seven days a week," Closs said.
He said he is often asked what it costs Kingston to host so many prisons.
"It cost David Krick his life," he said. "It cost his family a son, a brother, a nephew."
Closs said the murder investigation has cost taxpayers 4,500 hours in police staff time at a cost of roughly $200,000 and mounting.
"The David Krick homicide demonstrates to the citizens of Kingston that violent offenders walk our streets, they live in our city and ride in our taxis," Closs said.
Long-term studies of crime statistics demonstrate that Kingston has higher rates of violent crime than many large urban centres in Canada.
The city typically has an annual homicide rate that is among the highest in the province.
Investigators do not believe Krick was personally targeted.
"He was just the victim of what we believe to be a robbery," Kennedy said.
A small quantity of cash was taken from the 50-year-old cabbie before he was left bleeding on a sidewalk on Durham Street, about eights blocks from the spot where he picked up a passenger on Wright Crescent just after 6:30 a.m. on June 17.
Krick was stabbed in the chest several times. He was pronounced dead at hospital.
His attacker stole the taxi and drove a meandering route that ended at the An Clachan apartment complex on MacPherson Avenue, just off Van Order Drive.
The killer fled on foot and evaded police who arrived soon after he parked the blood-smeared car.
Kennedy said the investigation is ongoing.
"There could be other people arrested," he said.
Police would not say if they have the murder weapon, although two knives were recovered.
One knife was found in the grass of the apartment complex where Krick's taxi was abandoned.
Children playing outside made the discovery three days after the killing.
The knife was found near a main entrance to the apartment complex, roughly 100 metres from the spot where the cab was left.
Another knife was found on the front lawn of a house several doors away from the spot on Durham Street where Krick was found on Father's Day morning.
Smith is expected to serve remainder of his sentence in federal prison, until it expires Nov. 30, and then will be handed over to Kingston Police. .
rtripp@thewhig.com
In brief
What: Murder of Amey's taxi driver David Krick, 50.
When: June 17, 2007, just before 7 a.m.
Where: Krick was stabbed and left to die on a sidewalk on Durham Street in Kingston, just south of Princess Street.
Developments: On Oct. 11, police charge Richard Edmund Smith, 31, a federal prisoner, with first-degree murder; his common-law wife, Laura Jean Clow, 39, was charged Oct. 9 as an accessory after the fact.
Next: Smith is back in court Oct. 30; Clow returns to court Monday.
Police believe a Kingston taxi driver was robbed and stabbed to death by a 31-year-old federal parolee with a 10-year history of violent crimes including sexual assault.
On Thursday night, Richard Edmund Smith was arrested at Collins Bay penitentiary and charged with first-degree murder in the Father's Day slaying of Amey's taxi driver David Krick.
The robbery likely netted less than $100.
Krick's brother Raymond, one of four family members who attended a news conference yesterday at police headquarters, thanked detectives.
"I do appreciate all the work you guys have done," Raymond Krick said, speaking to six investigators. "It does give you some closure knowing this guy's not out there now."
Krick's sister-in-law, Robyn Lawlor, said the arrest brings some peace of mind.
"It's been a long wait, a long four months," she said. "It goes from being very upset because of the death to anger."
Smith was free from prison on full parole, although police say he was a high risk to reoffend, at the time Krick was murdered on June 17.
Smith is serving a four-year, eight-month sentence for sexual assault with a weapon, forcible confinement, robbery and other minor offences.
He was convicted in Milton in April 2003 after he forced a woman to perform oral sex on him by threatening her with a knife, according to National Parole Board records.
Smith approached a woman randomly in a doughnut shop parking lot and ordered her into her car, where the attack took place. At one point, he ran the tip of the knife down her back.
"He's been in and out of institutions for a number of years," Det. Sgt. Bill Kennedy said at the news conference yesterday.
Smith has a criminal record dating to 1993 that includes convictions for domestic violence, impaired driving and property crimes, according to the parole records.
They document a pattern of "dysfunctional relationships with vulnerable women."
Smith has admitted being addicted to drugs and pornography.
When he was paroled in May 2005, he was barred from consuming alcohol or drugs or visiting strip clubs. At the time, he was considered a "moderate risk for sexual recidivism and domestic violence."
Two months later, a woman with whom he was having a relationship called his parole officer to report that Smith was abusive, drinking to excess and driving while drunk.
Smith's parole was suspended, but he was released again after the board concluded "it is difficult to see reliable and persuasive information to conclude without any doubt that you had been engaged in the activities that were alleged to have occurred."
Kennedy, who is in charge of the murder probe, would not discuss the evidence that police believe links Smith to the crime.
"I'm not going to comment at all on any of the evidence," he said.
Police have received forensic reports but Kennedy would not discuss the results.
Kennedy said Smith has not made a statement.
"Right now, I believe he's being somewhat quiet," he said.
Smith, dressed in a white shirt and dark wind pants, did not speak at his court appearance yesterday afternoon. He'll be back in court Oct. 30.
On Tuesday, police arrested Smith's common-law wife, Laura Jean Clow, 39, and charged her as an accessory after the fact. She appeared in court Wednesday and will be back in court Monday.
"I'm not going to disclose exactly what her role is in this," Kennedy said. He said Clow does not have a criminal record.
She lives at 117 Carruthers Ave., according to court records, about three blocks east of the spot where Krick's taxi was abandoned the day he was killed.
Smith, who is originally from Hamilton, was arrested by Kingston Police and returned to prison on Aug. 1 for breaching conditions of his parole. At the time, police were investigating him.
Police Chief Bill Closs said there is no reason for Smith to be living in Kingston, except for the presence of eight federal penitentiaries in the area.
"I believe that David Krick would be alive today if Kingston were not the prison capital of Canada, if Corrections Canada could do a better job of rehabilitating people, if Canada did not have a revolving door in and out of the justice system and frankly if the Kingston Police had the ability to monitor what we consider to be violent offenders, sex offenders, 24/7, seven days a week," Closs said.
He said he is often asked what it costs Kingston to host so many prisons.
"It cost David Krick his life," he said. "It cost his family a son, a brother, a nephew."
Closs said the murder investigation has cost taxpayers 4,500 hours in police staff time at a cost of roughly $200,000 and mounting.
"The David Krick homicide demonstrates to the citizens of Kingston that violent offenders walk our streets, they live in our city and ride in our taxis," Closs said.
Long-term studies of crime statistics demonstrate that Kingston has higher rates of violent crime than many large urban centres in Canada.
The city typically has an annual homicide rate that is among the highest in the province.
Investigators do not believe Krick was personally targeted.
"He was just the victim of what we believe to be a robbery," Kennedy said.
A small quantity of cash was taken from the 50-year-old cabbie before he was left bleeding on a sidewalk on Durham Street, about eights blocks from the spot where he picked up a passenger on Wright Crescent just after 6:30 a.m. on June 17.
Krick was stabbed in the chest several times. He was pronounced dead at hospital.
His attacker stole the taxi and drove a meandering route that ended at the An Clachan apartment complex on MacPherson Avenue, just off Van Order Drive.
The killer fled on foot and evaded police who arrived soon after he parked the blood-smeared car.
Kennedy said the investigation is ongoing.
"There could be other people arrested," he said.
Police would not say if they have the murder weapon, although two knives were recovered.
One knife was found in the grass of the apartment complex where Krick's taxi was abandoned.
Children playing outside made the discovery three days after the killing.
The knife was found near a main entrance to the apartment complex, roughly 100 metres from the spot where the cab was left.
Another knife was found on the front lawn of a house several doors away from the spot on Durham Street where Krick was found on Father's Day morning.
Smith is expected to serve remainder of his sentence in federal prison, until it expires Nov. 30, and then will be handed over to Kingston Police. .
rtripp@thewhig.com
In brief
What: Murder of Amey's taxi driver David Krick, 50.
When: June 17, 2007, just before 7 a.m.
Where: Krick was stabbed and left to die on a sidewalk on Durham Street in Kingston, just south of Princess Street.
Developments: On Oct. 11, police charge Richard Edmund Smith, 31, a federal prisoner, with first-degree murder; his common-law wife, Laura Jean Clow, 39, was charged Oct. 9 as an accessory after the fact.
Next: Smith is back in court Oct. 30; Clow returns to court Monday.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Cab stickers a fitting tribute
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website:
The small, black-and-yellow sticker appearing on the bumpers of Kingston taxi cabs is a fitting tribute to David Krick.
Mr. Krick was stabbed to death nearly four months ago while driving his cab - the victim of a murderer who has continued to elude city police.
Such memorials and tributes have become commonplace in our troubled and violent world, moreso since Canada joined the war in Afghanistan and soldiers started returning home in coffins - more than 70 to date.
Mr. Krick was not a war hero. But he performed a public service that most of us who have day jobs in comfortable, air-conditioned offices will never understand or appreciate.
Driving taxi - especially overnight in a city the size of Kingston - can be dangerous business.
The epitaph at the bottom of the sticker, which was designed by Mr. Krick's family, reads: "Let his spirit ride with you."
Mr. Krick was 50 years old, loved by his family and popular at work. Yet he was left bleeding and dying on a city sidewalk the morning of June 17, the victim of a cowardly and despicable act.
Since then, Kingston Police have had four officers assigned full-time to the case. Tips from the public have dried up. Yet their resolve remains strong.
They suspect the killer had at least one accomplice that morning who helped him elude the police chase - someone who is now withholding information that would see justice done.
We hope that person or persons takes note of the memorial sticker that bears David Krick's name and his car number - No. 71.
We hope it moves them to do the right thing and report Mr. Krick's killer to Kingston Police.
The small, black-and-yellow sticker appearing on the bumpers of Kingston taxi cabs is a fitting tribute to David Krick.
Mr. Krick was stabbed to death nearly four months ago while driving his cab - the victim of a murderer who has continued to elude city police.
Such memorials and tributes have become commonplace in our troubled and violent world, moreso since Canada joined the war in Afghanistan and soldiers started returning home in coffins - more than 70 to date.
Mr. Krick was not a war hero. But he performed a public service that most of us who have day jobs in comfortable, air-conditioned offices will never understand or appreciate.
Driving taxi - especially overnight in a city the size of Kingston - can be dangerous business.
The epitaph at the bottom of the sticker, which was designed by Mr. Krick's family, reads: "Let his spirit ride with you."
Mr. Krick was 50 years old, loved by his family and popular at work. Yet he was left bleeding and dying on a city sidewalk the morning of June 17, the victim of a cowardly and despicable act.
Since then, Kingston Police have had four officers assigned full-time to the case. Tips from the public have dried up. Yet their resolve remains strong.
They suspect the killer had at least one accomplice that morning who helped him elude the police chase - someone who is now withholding information that would see justice done.
We hope that person or persons takes note of the memorial sticker that bears David Krick's name and his car number - No. 71.
We hope it moves them to do the right thing and report Mr. Krick's killer to Kingston Police.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Cabs to test security cameras; Technology used in other Ontario cities
From the Kingston Whig-Standard Website:
Jordan Press
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Local News - Three Kingston cabs, one each from Modern, Amey's and Kingston and Amherst Taxi, will be equipped with security cameras as part of a test to see how the devices work with drivers and passengers.
The cameras, in use in municipalities such as Toronto, take photographs of passengers inside the vehicles.
The move comes after the killing in June of a Kingston cab driver.
Doug Cox, who chairs the committee looking into the potential safety measures, said the local industry wants to see if the cameras would be cost effective for Kingston.
Also, he said, the committee wants to see how passengers react when they find out they may have their photo taken while in a cab.
"That's why we're taking our time with the cameras and with the rest of the stuff," said Cox, owner of Kingston and Amherst Taxi.
Some passengers may feel uncomfortable, he said. "This is why we've got to be cautious. We've got to take this one step at a time."
The committee gave its recommendations yesterday to the taxi commission, which regulates the local industry. The seven-member commission will have the final say on any measures to be implemented.
Cox said a safety course and any other mandatory safety features will be accepted by the taxi commission in time for license renewal on Oct. 1.
Keeping taxi drivers safe on the job has been a priority for the commission since the killing of David Krick.
The 50-year-old Amey's driver was stabbed to death and left to die on Durham Street in the early hours of June 17. He had picked up a passenger on Wright Crescent shortly before the stabbing.
Fellow drivers and emergency personnel found Krick bleeding to death on the sidewalk. He was pronounced dead in hospital.
Krick was the first homicide in Kingston this year and the first cab driver to be killed on the job.
His killer fled in the cab, parked it at an apartment complex on Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard and evaded police. Kingston Police are still searching for the killer.
Before yesterday, the only recommendation that was publicly announced was an educational program designed to teach drivers how to be safe on the job.
A 12-member committee, made up of taxi company owners, drivers and members of the taxi commission, has been reviewing what safety measures may be necessary in Kingston. At the moment, Kingston cabs don't have cameras, although Amey's has installed global positioning systems in its cabs.
Results from an industry survey found that drivers were most interested in a safety course, Cox said. Second on the list were cameras in cars, followed by emergency lights on the rear of the vehicle and, finally, protective shields that separate driver from passenger.
The committee received 120 completed surveys.
"The safety awareness is the big issue," Cox said. He said others in the taxi industry across the country told committee members that the majority of the time, staying safe depends on how the driver handles themselves in a dangerous situation.
The cameras were seen largely as a measure to deter dangerous advances on drivers, he said.
"Everybody feels that if something does happen, there will be a picture to show the person in the car," Cox said. That picture would go to police to aid in their investigation.
jpress@thewhig.com
Jordan Press
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Local News - Three Kingston cabs, one each from Modern, Amey's and Kingston and Amherst Taxi, will be equipped with security cameras as part of a test to see how the devices work with drivers and passengers.
The cameras, in use in municipalities such as Toronto, take photographs of passengers inside the vehicles.
The move comes after the killing in June of a Kingston cab driver.
Doug Cox, who chairs the committee looking into the potential safety measures, said the local industry wants to see if the cameras would be cost effective for Kingston.
Also, he said, the committee wants to see how passengers react when they find out they may have their photo taken while in a cab.
"That's why we're taking our time with the cameras and with the rest of the stuff," said Cox, owner of Kingston and Amherst Taxi.
Some passengers may feel uncomfortable, he said. "This is why we've got to be cautious. We've got to take this one step at a time."
The committee gave its recommendations yesterday to the taxi commission, which regulates the local industry. The seven-member commission will have the final say on any measures to be implemented.
Cox said a safety course and any other mandatory safety features will be accepted by the taxi commission in time for license renewal on Oct. 1.
Keeping taxi drivers safe on the job has been a priority for the commission since the killing of David Krick.
The 50-year-old Amey's driver was stabbed to death and left to die on Durham Street in the early hours of June 17. He had picked up a passenger on Wright Crescent shortly before the stabbing.
Fellow drivers and emergency personnel found Krick bleeding to death on the sidewalk. He was pronounced dead in hospital.
Krick was the first homicide in Kingston this year and the first cab driver to be killed on the job.
His killer fled in the cab, parked it at an apartment complex on Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard and evaded police. Kingston Police are still searching for the killer.
Before yesterday, the only recommendation that was publicly announced was an educational program designed to teach drivers how to be safe on the job.
A 12-member committee, made up of taxi company owners, drivers and members of the taxi commission, has been reviewing what safety measures may be necessary in Kingston. At the moment, Kingston cabs don't have cameras, although Amey's has installed global positioning systems in its cabs.
Results from an industry survey found that drivers were most interested in a safety course, Cox said. Second on the list were cameras in cars, followed by emergency lights on the rear of the vehicle and, finally, protective shields that separate driver from passenger.
The committee received 120 completed surveys.
"The safety awareness is the big issue," Cox said. He said others in the taxi industry across the country told committee members that the majority of the time, staying safe depends on how the driver handles themselves in a dangerous situation.
The cameras were seen largely as a measure to deter dangerous advances on drivers, he said.
"Everybody feels that if something does happen, there will be a picture to show the person in the car," Cox said. That picture would go to police to aid in their investigation.
jpress@thewhig.com
Friday, August 03, 2007
Man who confronted cabbies in court; Twenty-one-year-old accused of threatening to kill two taxi drivers
From the Kingston Whig-Standard website:
Rob Tripp
Friday, August 03, 2007
Local news - A man accused of threatening to kill two Kingston taxi drivers was to appear in court today to face charges of uttering death threats.
The incident comes six-and-a-half weeks after a Kingston cabbie was killed by a passenger.
The confrontation happened around 8 a.m. yesterday after an Amey's taxi delivered a woman to a house on Elm Street, where an argument began between the woman and a man.
When the female taxi driver intervened, the man threatened to kill the cabbie. The driver activated a silent panic alarm that alerted other cabbies and they rushed to her aid.
"I was about the third car there," said driver Shelley Scott, who was also one of the first cabbies to arrive after mortally wounded driver David Krick called for help.
"It certainly brought my heart into my throat," Scott said. "It was very reminiscent of June 17."
At least half a dozen taxi drivers arrived at Elm Street within minutes and confronted the agitated man. At one point, he retrieved something from the home and began threatening to stab the cabbies with a sharp object covered by a bandanna.
"It turned out to be a ballpoint pen and he was wielding it like a knife," said Const. Mike Menor of Kingston Police.
The swarm of cabbies contained the man until police officers arrived and arrested him.
The 21-year-old man, whose name was not released, also is charged with breach of probation. He was held in custody until a bail hearing set for this afternoon.
During the confrontation, police say the man threatened to kill another driver.
None of the cabbies was injured.
The 39-year-old driver first threatened yesterday, a veteran Amey's driver, did not want to be identified by name out of fear of retribution.
The assailant also threatened to hunt down and kill her family.
Menor said the man was acting strangely and appeared to be very angry and extremely agitated.
He said police rushing to the scene yesterday had difficulty getting there because the streets were clogged by taxis that had responded to the distress call.
Scott said the incident is a reminder that taxi drivers need action quickly to improve their safety.
"It just seems like we're not being taken seriously," she said.
Most Kingston taxis do not have any safety measures for drivers, save for the panic buttons in Amey's cars, which are equipped with global positioning systems.
After Krick's slaying, the local taxi commission struck a committee to study safety ideas. It will report on Aug. 15.
Kingston Police are still hunting Krick's killer.
The 50-year-old veteran driver was stabbed and left on the sidewalk to die by a male passenger he picked up early on Father's Day morning.
Kingston Police have said they believe the killer has had help in eluding capture.
rtripp@thewhig.com
Rob Tripp
Friday, August 03, 2007
Local news - A man accused of threatening to kill two Kingston taxi drivers was to appear in court today to face charges of uttering death threats.
The incident comes six-and-a-half weeks after a Kingston cabbie was killed by a passenger.
The confrontation happened around 8 a.m. yesterday after an Amey's taxi delivered a woman to a house on Elm Street, where an argument began between the woman and a man.
When the female taxi driver intervened, the man threatened to kill the cabbie. The driver activated a silent panic alarm that alerted other cabbies and they rushed to her aid.
"I was about the third car there," said driver Shelley Scott, who was also one of the first cabbies to arrive after mortally wounded driver David Krick called for help.
"It certainly brought my heart into my throat," Scott said. "It was very reminiscent of June 17."
At least half a dozen taxi drivers arrived at Elm Street within minutes and confronted the agitated man. At one point, he retrieved something from the home and began threatening to stab the cabbies with a sharp object covered by a bandanna.
"It turned out to be a ballpoint pen and he was wielding it like a knife," said Const. Mike Menor of Kingston Police.
The swarm of cabbies contained the man until police officers arrived and arrested him.
The 21-year-old man, whose name was not released, also is charged with breach of probation. He was held in custody until a bail hearing set for this afternoon.
During the confrontation, police say the man threatened to kill another driver.
None of the cabbies was injured.
The 39-year-old driver first threatened yesterday, a veteran Amey's driver, did not want to be identified by name out of fear of retribution.
The assailant also threatened to hunt down and kill her family.
Menor said the man was acting strangely and appeared to be very angry and extremely agitated.
He said police rushing to the scene yesterday had difficulty getting there because the streets were clogged by taxis that had responded to the distress call.
Scott said the incident is a reminder that taxi drivers need action quickly to improve their safety.
"It just seems like we're not being taken seriously," she said.
Most Kingston taxis do not have any safety measures for drivers, save for the panic buttons in Amey's cars, which are equipped with global positioning systems.
After Krick's slaying, the local taxi commission struck a committee to study safety ideas. It will report on Aug. 15.
Kingston Police are still hunting Krick's killer.
The 50-year-old veteran driver was stabbed and left on the sidewalk to die by a male passenger he picked up early on Father's Day morning.
Kingston Police have said they believe the killer has had help in eluding capture.
rtripp@thewhig.com
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Man charged for threatening to kill cabbies
From the Kingston Whig-Standard website:
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Local News - A 21-year-old Kingston man has been charged with uttering death threats after a man threatened to kill two Amey's taxi drivers.
The man was arrested shortly after 8 a.m. on Chatham Street and is being held in custody. He has a bail hearing Friday.
Police say a female cabbie drove a woman to an address on Elm Street, where a confrontation began involving the man. When the cab driver intervened, the man threatened to kill her. The cabbie activated a silent panic button that brought at least half a dozen other cabbies rushing to her aid. At one point, the agitated man wielded a pointed objected that was covered by a bandana, threatening to stab people. It turned out to be a ballpoint pen. He threatened to kill another driver who had arrived to help. Police arrived within minutes and the man was taken into custody. He also is charged with breach of probation.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Local News - A 21-year-old Kingston man has been charged with uttering death threats after a man threatened to kill two Amey's taxi drivers.
The man was arrested shortly after 8 a.m. on Chatham Street and is being held in custody. He has a bail hearing Friday.
Police say a female cabbie drove a woman to an address on Elm Street, where a confrontation began involving the man. When the cab driver intervened, the man threatened to kill her. The cabbie activated a silent panic button that brought at least half a dozen other cabbies rushing to her aid. At one point, the agitated man wielded a pointed objected that was covered by a bandana, threatening to stab people. It turned out to be a ballpoint pen. He threatened to kill another driver who had arrived to help. Police arrived within minutes and the man was taken into custody. He also is charged with breach of probation.
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