Cab passenger’s rant
The classless white male passenger, who seemed drunk, became upset on finding out his cab chip was set to expire; he took his anger out on his driver, Sardar Qayyum, by way of a vicious verbal assault. Qayyum had done nothing wrong but was taunted, called names and had to endure the suggestion that he strapped bombs to his back.
The only violence done was by the passenger, who tore out the camera that was mounted upon the dashboard of Qayyum’s Calgary cab; he was trying to prevent his tirade from being publicly shown. Not long after this incident had occurred, in November of 2013, the RCMP spoke with the unidentified passenger.
The Mounties did not recommend charges, however, instead telling the passenger that if he made good on the damage that he had done to the cab then he would not be charged. He did so.
“In addition to paying the fare for the vehicle (repairs),” a spokesperson for the RCMP, Cpl. Sharon Franks, said. “He actually paid Mr. Qayyum some of his lost wages, because he was unable to go to work for a little bit of time after the incident.”
Formal complaint
The video of the incident did not surface until July of this year. At that time, Qayyum filed a formal complaint with the RCMP Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC), which was turned down today.
“The quid pro quo that arose when the passenger paid the driver money for the damages to his taxi upon the understanding that he would not be charged and prosecuted raises a significant issue respecting the passenger’s Charter Rights,” Alberta RCMP in a press release.
Cpl. Franks said charging the passenger now and getting a conviction would in effect be punishing him a second time for one incident, which would not permitted under Section 7 of the criminal code.
The RCMP has spoken personally to Qayyum and their press release apologized to him, saying they did so because “the service provided to him did not accomplish a satisfactory outcome for him.”
They also spoke to the original officer who handled the complaint without recommending charges and she was, the RCMP said, instructed on how to better handle such an incident in the future.
