Unfair stereotype
Halifax taxi driver who rescued woman from assault says cabbies unfairly stereotyped
Halifax cabbie who rescued a woman from assault hopes to help change the image of taxi drivers in the city.
A Halifax taxi driver being hailed as a hero after helping a woman from a serious assault says he is telling his story in part to help change the image of cab drivers in the city.
Amer Abdo of Casino Taxi was driving two customers down Inglis Street around 4 p.m. Friday when he says he saw a man hitting a young woman on the sidewalk from his rearview mirror.
Without even thinking, Abdo said he yelled at the much larger man and interrupted the assault before it could go any further.
“I just slammed my brakes and stopped my meter, I felt like I had to do it,” Abdo said in an interview Sunday.
He was able to bring the woman to safety inside his cab and called 911. He then followed the man to an Ultramar, where police arrested the 40-year-old suspect.
The unnamed man has been charged with assault and is due in court next month.
Abdo said his actions that day aren’t that unusual. He said he has come across other violent acts during his 16 years as a Halifax cab driver and always taken immediate action, but was never open to the limelight until now.
The only reason Abdo agreed
to speak about his actions on this day he said was to clean up the negative attention drivers in Halifax are getting, especially after March 1 when a Nova Scotia judge found cabbie Bassam Al-Rawi not guilty of sexually assaulting a female passenger relating to a May 25, 2015 incident.
“We get a lot of abuse,” Abdo said, noting several recent sexual assault cases involving drivers have cast a negative light on all drivers in Halifax.
He said one incident in particular a few weekends ago continues to bother him deeply. He
said he picked up two women one night in the downtown and the first thing they said to him was: “Please don’t rape me.”
“It’s all because of one bad guy,” Abdo said, noting he’s seen a decrease in business since the not-guilty verdict against Al-Rawi.
Abdo is hoping by talking about his brave actions it will bring more positive media attention towards him and other taxi drivers in Halifax.
However, he doesn’t think what he did makes him a hero.
“It’s the least I could have done,” he said.