Taxi union seeks tougher penalties for drivers who refuse short fares: report
Posted August 11, 2015 5:59 am.
Last Updated August 11, 2015 11:01 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A union that represents Toronto taxi drivers is reportedly calling for tougher penalties for cabbies who refuse short fares.
A friend of Ariela Navarro-Fenoy claims the 26-year-old was turned down by a cab driver – who deemed her estimated $8 fare too low – outside Muzik nightclub, moments before shots rang out.
Sajid Mughal, the president of the iTaxiworkers Association, told the Toronto Star that Navarro-Fenoy’s death “should not have happened.”
The city’s director of bylaw enforcement, John DeCourcy, called the practice of turning down short fares “despicable,” the Star reports.
Navarro-Fenoy and Duvel Hibbert, 23, of Brampton, were killed on Aug. 4 at an after-party for Drake’s OVO Fest. She was found near the Dufferin Gates with gunshot wounds and died in hospital, while Hibbert was found dead at an outdoor patio at the club. Three other people were wounded.
Family and friends of the young woman gathered Monday to say goodbye at her funeral at St. Jude’s Roman Catholic Church on Weston Road.
“My sister was tragically taken away from us too soon, and today we put her to rest. We’re sure our angel is looking after us,” Navarro-Fenoy’s sister Aluen cried outside the church after the service.
Meanwhile, the Star reports Toronto police are banning paid-duty officers from working events at the nightclub, pending a security assessment.
Police said it wants to make sure the venue’s security measures are in order before putting paid-duty officers and the public in the way of any potential harm once the club eventually reopens.
