Jarmanpreet Singh was only on his second shift for Kelowna Cabs when he was seriously injured in a violent attack in the city’s downtown early Tuesday morning.
“I was very scared,” Singh told Global News. “I thought I was going to die there after seeing the knife.”
The 25-year-old man sustained slash wounds and deep cuts to both his hands and leg after a suspect attacked him with a knife Singh describes as “arm-sized.”
The taxi’s dashcam captured part of the attack, showing Singh’s wrist being slashed.
It all started after midnight in front of O’Flannigan’s Pub, involving a young woman and man, described by Singh as teenagers.
A man with an unknown connection to the pair paid for the ride, giving Singh a $100 bill.
However, the short taxi drive to where the young passengers wanted to go was only about $10.
Singh said he told the man paying the fare he only had $75 dollars for change, and not $90.
Singh said the man footing the bill took the $75 in change and told Singh to keep the difference.
In the dashcam footage, Singh is seen and heard telling the man, “I only have $75 cash,” to which the man is heard replying, “Sure.”
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But once the cab started moving, the video shows the young woman repeatedly trying to grab the $100 from inside the console between the driver’s and front passenger’s seats.
In the video she is heard saying, “I’ll just take it.”
After repeated attempts, Singh tells her he is going to call police.
The threat of a call to police prompted the pair to exit the vehicle at a stop sign.
It was moments later and just a short distance away, near the corner of Bernard Avenue and Water Street, where Singh noticed the two passengers running over to him with yet another man, who pulled out the knife.
Singh believes the knife-wielding man was not the same man who originally paid for the fare.
“Everybody’s heart goes out to him,” said Roy Paulson, a longtime driver with Kelowna Cabs and the company’s spokesperson. “It could have been worse and thankfully it’s still pretty serious injuries but … it’s bad, but it could have been
worse.”
Paulson and other colleagues are rallying around Singh, saying he didn’t even have a chance to call for help.
Fortunately, another taxi driver who was nearby called for help and the trio fled the scene.
Singh is awaiting surgery and expected to be off work for months.
It’s a big blow for a man helping to support his family back in India.
But even when he does recover, he’s not sure if he will ever drive a cab again.
“I don’t think it’s safe anymore,” he said.
RCMP have confirmed one arrest in connection with the attack but are hoping for more witnesses to come forward as they continue the investigation.
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