Saskatoon cab driver suspended over dragged passenger

Comfort Cab is assuring the public it’s taken appropriate action after a video surfaced on social media Thursday night showing a passenger’s feet being dragged in a moving taxi.

The minute and a half long video, taken by a witness from across a busy street, was posted to Facebook shortly before midnight Thursday — but appears to be from an incident Comfort Cab said happened six weeks earlier.

When the video starts the cab is parked outside a home and the driver appears to be in an argument with a passenger still sitting in the cab.

The back passenger door is open with the person’s feet seen on the ground outside the taxi.

An object is thrown from the door, and a loud discussion continues between the cab driver, passenger and another person standing at the front door of the home.

Eventually, the driver gets back into the taxi and drives off with the door still open and the passenger’s feet still on the ground.

Comfort Cab Operations Manager Shondra Boire told 650 CKOM Friday the company reviewed the footage and matched it to an incident that occurred on April 27.

She said the driver was suspended, and he is facing criminal charges.

Friday morning, before it was clear the incident was from an earlier date, Boire told 650 CKOM a driver would be reprimanded immediately for driving in the manner shown in the video.

“I don’t care what happened before, that’s unacceptable,” she said.

Saskatoon police told 650 CKOM in a statement the 45-year-old cab driver had allegedly engaged in a fare dispute with a 45-year-old woman.

Police said the driver tried to remove the woman by force when she refused to get out of the vehicle.

He was charged with common assault.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story stated the driver had been fired. In fact, he is suspended pending the outcome of his court case.