konageezer

8-year-old left with broken nose, road rash after getting knocked off bicycle
By HOLLY LAKE, Ottawa Sun

AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD boy is recovering from his injuries after being run down by a taxi in an apparent case of road rage.

https://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Ottawa...84311-sun.html

ngateguy

The cab company is lying all they need to do is look at thier records and they will find out who was in that area at that time.

Keith99

The article says the kids father called the cab company, not the police. No way the cab company should give out that kind of information to him in a case like this.

patc

It was bound to happen sooner or later, our cab drivers are very aggressive drivers (yes, I believe there is a link between road rage and aggressive driving). I do my best to avoid them: they often fail to signal, or only signal once they have started a turn, and they seldom give bikes more than six inches of clearance when passing.

timmhaan

this is crazy!! an adult has no right to get road rage from an 8 year old. nonetheless follow him while honking. he is a little kid! the family should push for police to investigate and not let up until they find this guy. aren't cabbies supposed to radio in all drop offs anyway?

recursive

It's usually a sign of a glitch in the system.

I'm guessing/hoping they will be able to find out who the driver is. I'm sure they record where the cabs are, to prevent cabbie fraud if nothing else. This is totally ridiculous.

webist

Followed honking - Premeditation.
Hit him at slow speed - Deliberate.

Punishment needs to be severe - and, driver should never drive again.

Dchiefransom

The police need to go in and pull a "Law and Order" TV show type investigation. If the company refuses to give up the name without a warrant, call the code inspectors in and shut the company down for a few days.
Seriously, going in with a warrant already signed should reveal who was dropping someone off at that complex.

kb0tnv

This is sickening! I now know why many parents don't let their kids out of the house. I believe we have "sold out" our past, present and future generations to the automobile culture we now have. Something has to break! Something has to wake up this autoinfested, autodependent, autoaddicted culture! Maybe when more kids who work for CEO's of Honda, Ford, Toyota ETC...get run down things may change...otherwise the "system" keeps being fed!

My favorite sayings:

When was the last time you heard of someone being killed by a bike?

When was the last time a kid was kidnapped by someone on a bike?

When was the last time your kids got asthma from someone on a bike?

When was the last time you were stuck in traffic because of someone on a bike?

When was the lasts time you got "fat" while riding a bike?

The car only gets you from point A to point B faster...nothing more...nothing less. And many times it will get you to the poor house faster! ;-)

In the article they actually admitted the cab drivers work long hours..are tired and become a danger! Wow!

Keep Cycling!

cruentus

First, "Law and Order" is a TV show, it's not reality, it is fantasy, it is not real, it is fake, etc. Anyone who has had even a little experience with the "Justice System" can tell you what a load of BS all TV cop and court shows really are.

Second, this happened in Canada, not the US. Laws are different outside the USA -- I know this fact may shock many people in the USA.

Third, there are racial politics in play here. The boy, who is white, was run down by a cab driver who is described by witnesses as being "of Middle Eastern origin". In the USA, hate crimes only go one way: Whites commit hate crimes against non-Whites and never the other way around. This is doubly true in Canada were native born "White trash" have been legally relegated to "untouchable" status. "White trash" in the USA and Canada are defined as any White who doesn't have a net worth of at least 20 million dollars.

MsMittens

I'm failing to see the relevance of this particular line. The step-sister (witness) described what she thought she saw. Unless I'm misunderstanding you, we don't know for sure if he ran the boy down because of his colour. We do know, based on the witness accounts, that he was impatient, yelling at the boy -- who was down on the ground -- to "get out of the way".

And while the laws are different in some regards, they aren't that far off. I'd suspect, at minimum, once the cabbie is found he'd be charged under the following: Aggrevated Assault (CC 268), Failure to stop at the scene of an accident (CC 252), Dangerous Operation of motor vehicle (CC 249.1), Dangerous operation causing bodily harm (CC 249.3) and Causing bodily harm by criminal negligence (CC 221) [Source: Pocket Criminal Code: 2003, Carswell]

Each of these have terms that seem to range from 18 months to 10 years. Regardless of whether he was in the US or Canada, what he did is still beyond reproach. He needs to take responsibility for his actions. I wonder however if the cab company could be charged with Accessory after the fact (CC 463.b) or at least the manager on duty. The question is did they know what the cabbie has done? I do find it hard to believe that no one knows who did this (in the cab company).

Interestinly enough, even with Canada's Hate Laws, if the cabbie did this for the reasons you would suggest, there'd be no extra tacked on. (something that's done in some US states).

lilHinault

Hm, that is true, whites = little to no rights, when facing the much greater rights of a nonwhite.

All that can be done is to PUBLICIZE and FLYER and make the case as well-known as possible. White kids *can* be killed with impunity but if the case is made public enough, people might put 2 and 2 together and realize that this kind of behavior endangers non-white, and thus fully civil rights endowed, kids too.

patc

I'm not sure, but based on my observation I think they log when they accept a pick-up call, but drop offs and random street-corner pick ups are not logged. We have a history of problems with our cab drivers (though not usually violence) and they seem to go on strike every time the parent company "imposes" any change the drivers object to. Its entirely possible there is no more logging that I have observed. These are the same cabbies who threatened a strike when the city required newer and cleaner cab standards before they would re-issue licenses.

Linchpin

When was the last time you heard of someone being rushed to a hospital on a bike?
When was the last time your wife went into panic labor and police delivered on the seat of a bike?
When was the last time you packed and moved your home moved from one city to the next on a bike?
When was the last time the fire department pulled up on bikes and saved a home from burning?
When was the last time goods were delivered to the grocer on a bike?
When was the last time....
</DEVILS ADVOCATE>

Motor vehicles have their place and are used for more than getting from A to B faster.


-- The ******* formerly known as pj7

Dchiefransom

I know it's a TV show, and there's a big difference. I'm shocked to learn, though, that Canada doesn't have any building codes that they enforce for building safety.

ajay677

In my town, the cabs are equipped with GPS locator systems. Cab dispatchers know exactly where all their cabs are, and where they have been. This system was used by police investigating a cabbie murder to backtrack the route a cab took. Windsor is a small town and has GPS equipped cabs. Ottawa, is the capital city of Canada. Anyone know if Ottawa cabs are eqipped with GPS?

Linchpin

Ummmm...... it's not TOO late to edit your post and remove that remark, you can't possibly think it is true can you?
I recall in the news recently, in Dearborn Michigan, about a black male being beaten severely by a Malaysian man because, and I quote, "they're not even human, and his being there bothered me".
If "I" can recall just one instance within the last 2 weeks, and me being just one person in one area, then obviously "hate crimes only go one way" is a false statement.

ghettocruiser

I have no idea what you are talking about.

Forgive me for being nationalistic, but this sort of thing makes me think we need less american analysis of canadian news.

emilymildew

I am convinced that this isn't the entire story. Yes, cab drivers are often angry folk, much like many people who make their living in a vehicle (car or truck or whatever) tend to be.

But there's a part of this story missing. It doesn't say that the kid was in his way, just that the cab driver started following him.

I think that there's something the kids haven't told their parents or the authorities.

(Note: That does NOT mean I think the cab driver was right. Just that we don't have enough information, and 99% of the population wouldn't run down an 8-year-old for ABSOLUTELY no reason.)

Linchpin

That still leaves alot of people who will.
roughly 6.5 billion people on earth
1% of that is 65 million people

roughly 32.2 million people in Canada
so the ammount of people on earth that would run down an 8 year old child is twice the ammount of people in Canada

Though 32.2million is a little less than .5% of 6.5 billion, then by mathematical average there are about 325,000 child gunning manicas in Canada who would run down an 8 year old, and that number increases exponentially every Stanley Cup Play-Off time when Montreal loses to the Red Wings!!!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

EnigManiac

I saw this story on the news last night and was appalled and outraged. Living and commuting in Toronto, I have countless stories of horrendous, near-fatal and simply reckless behaviour by cabbies. Some are so outrageous they border on the bizarre and unbelievable and have well crossed the line of criminal. I've come to the conclusion that the majority of cab-drivers have little regard or respect for anyone else on the road, motorists or pedestrians, and even less for cyclists, whom they see as 'beneath' them, 'inferior' and 'invalid.' Clearly, the cab driver who purposefully ran down a child, veering into a parking lot even, to ensure he hit him, sending him 16-20 feet in the air and then swore and screamed at the injured, unconscious child deserves to be found, charged, convicted and sentenced to a severe and hefty prison term. His actions are reprehensible to the nth degree, in my opinion. The police (once THEY are educated) need to blitz and educate ALL cabbies about a cyclist' equal privelege to the road. That man is a child murderer waiting to happen. How many others are there out there like him?

patc

I can't tell you with certainty that that do not have GPS, but I am pretty sure they don't.

Ottawa cabs are, for the most part, privately owned vehicles. Drivers own the cars, or a few drivers may share a car. Licenses are issued by the city, and may be owned by the drivers themselves or by the cab company. Drivers pay the cab company a percentage of their fares in exchange for being part of the dispatch system. Coventry Connections, the owners of Blue Line and several other local cab companies, recently purchased their own fleet of cars: this was seen as so shocking by cabbies that it was nearly cause for a strike (obviously it was a more complex story, simplifying here).

When it comes to cabs, Ottawa has yet to join the 20th century, much less the 21st. Fortunately our public transit and bike facilities are more state of the art!

patc

You mean, you want us to actually wait until the investigation is complete?!? Hey, the public doesn't go far that! We pass instant judgement based on whatever the media first reports, and truth be damned.

cruentus

You don't know what I'm talking about? OK, I'll give it to you straight: Canada is a totalitarian police state were a person's "rights" depend on how much money they have or which group they are affiliated with. Canada openly sensors speech -- they label it "hate speech" whatever that is -- and routinely confiscates books.

Don't get too upset, the USA isn't far behind. After a few more years of wars to make the world safe for democracy, we'll have even fewer rights than Canadians. That should make you very happy.

cruentus

I don't know of one case in the USA were a non-White was prosecuted and convicted for committing a hate crime against a white person. I could easily find hundreds of cases of the reverse.