Man accused in Winnipeg taxi robbery, crash accused in fatal ice road rollover last March

The man accused of drunkenly robbing a Winnipeg taxi driver before stealing and crashing his cab last week was already awaiting court on a charge of impaired driving causing death in a fatal rollover on a remote ice road last year.

The cabbie was driving on Nassau Street just before 5:30 p.m., when the passenger in the vehicle assaulted and threatened him with a weapon.

The man stole the driver’s belongings, destroyed the taxi’s camera and continued to assault and threaten the driver until he got out of the vehicle.

The passenger drove off in the cab, but police found him and the cab near the intersection of River Avenue and Norquay Street. He was in the driver’s seat, showed signs of impairment and had alcohol in the vehicle, police said.

He had someone else’s identification and provided officers with a fake name.

Chief Silas Keeper, 42, was charged with robbery, uttering threats, failure to comply with a demand, identity fraud, possession of an identity document, and operation of a vehicle while impaired.

Keeper is also accused of causing a fatal vehicle rollover on March 28 near Fishing Lake in the Pauingassi First Nation area.

RCMP officers from the Little Grand Rapids detachment , along with local First Nation safety officers, learned that the two men who had been in the vehicle — and weren’t wearing seat belts at the time of the rollover — had already been transported to the area nursing station, where the 43-year-old passenger had been pronounced dead.

Keeper was awaiting a medevac flight to Winnipeg, about 280 kilometres south of the First Nation, for treatment.

Keeper was later charged with driving while impaired causing death, driving while impaired and dangerous driving causing death.

He was released on an appearance notice after Winnipeg police officers arrested him on Jan. 8, on a warrant issued by RCMP in December, in relation to the fatal crash. He was to appear in court in Pauingassi as a condition of that release.

Keeper has been convicted of several prior impaired driving and other driving offences in the past, court records show. He’s also been convicted of assaults, obstructing police and numerous court order breaches..

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca