Taxi driver charged in assaults, beer-store vandalism

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This article was published 15/08/2023 (801 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A taxi driver is facing charges in connection with several incidents — including a road-rage event — spanning the past 10 months.

The Winnipeg Police Service said Tuesday that the 23-year-old man was arrested for allegedly vandalizing a hotel and beer vendor that week. Police executed a search warrant at the suspect’s home in the 100 block of Mosselle Drive on Friday.

Officers were sent to Four Crowns Restaurant and Hotel at 1030 McPhillips St. at about 4:20 a.m. on Aug. 8 in response to a report of a group of men damaging a storefront property. The suspects fled the scene.

Major crimes unit investigators later learned one suspect went to the location while driving a taxi at around 1:30 a.m., got into an argument with security personnel and left. He allegedly returned hours later and damaged property while trying to conceal his face.

Hotel owner Ravi Ramberran told the Free Press last week that the incident started when the suspect exited his vehicle with an open can of beer in hand.

A security officer demanded the driver dispose of the alcohol and criticized him for apparently drinking behind the wheel, Ramberran said, noting the employee phoned the cab company to report the incident.

Ramberran said video shows the suspect returning in a different vehicle with three other people and that they started smashing glass windows and doors.

Police said the suspect has been linked to an aggravated assault on Oct. 27 in which a man assaulted a man, who was then 27, with a machete in the 1300 block of McPhillips Street.

The suspect is also alleged to have been involved in a March 7 road-rage incident near Templeton Avenue and Strasbourg Drive.

“During the incident, the suspect forced the then-30-year-old male victim of the other involved vehicle to stop, exited his vehicle and threatened the victim while brandishing a knife,” a news release said.

The suspect has been charged with mischief over $5,000, disguise with intent, assault causing bodily harm, two counts of assault with a weapon and two counts of possession of a weapon. He was released on an undertaking.

— Staff