• discussions >
• Front Room

Shit happens in Canada too...

Cabbie beaten outside strip club

Taxi driver was waiting for fare when attacked from behind

TAXI DRIVER Mohammad Idrish was badly assaulted Thursday night. Police are releasing few details. He had broken facial features, lost several teeth and is in a lot of pain. The dispute was over his cellphone.
Kaz Novak/The Hamilton Spectator






Mohammad Idrish's face is still swollen and his speech is unclear. He can only drink liquids and he will need surgery to fix his teeth and nose.

He sustained the injuries early Wednesday morning, while standing beside his taxi waiting for a fare in front of the Hamilton Strip adult entertainment club at 92 Barton St. E. As he chatted with another cab driver, he was approached by a man and attacked.

Idrish, who has driven a cab for seven years, said he works in the area often and is well-known by the locals.

Around 12:30 a.m., he saw two men coming from the side of the club. He said one of the men, who had bruises on his face and was bleeding, asked Idrish if he had a cellphone. Idrish said no and walked back to his cab.

“I wasn't doing anything,” Idrish said. “He came behind me and punched me.”

Idrish says he fell to the ground and was unconscious for about 10 minutes. Another driver came to help him and was also punched by the suspect.

Idrish was transported to St. Joseph's hospital and remained there until 10 a.m. He suffered a broken nose and black eye, the left side of his jaw was broken and three teeth were dislocated or broken.

The father of three has no insurance to help him while he is off work for at least a month.

“I feel very sorry for him and his family. It is a very unfortunate incident. Whoever did it should be charged and put in jail,” said Jagtar Singh Chahal, chair and CEO of Hamilton Cab. “It's very bad — the business is already bad and these kinds of things don't encourage people to drive cabs.”

Chahal says in the taxi business, drivers are self-employed and rent the cars. They pay their own taxes, pick up their own hours and buy their own insurance plans if they choose.

“Hamilton Cab does not operate any cabs, it's all individual brokers or owners. We hire these people and the relationship with these people is they are renting a shift, like you can just rent a car.”

Chahal also says there are regular minor assaults and “hiccups” that occur often, but a serious incident such as Idrish's is extremely rare.

“I heard he was not injured in the cab, he was injured outside and it was not his passenger … maybe he was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Chahal.

Hamilton police Staff Sergeant Emidio Evangelista said the suspect was escorted out of Hamilton Strip before he approached Idrish. Investigating officers are trying to obtain video of that night from the club.

The suspect is described as approximately 30 years old, white with a tan, 5-foot-10 to 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds. He was bald with a goatee and had tattoos on his right arm. He wore a blue shirt, jean shorts and black sunglasses.

Police are still investigating.