Some interesting comments on self defense in this article. What kind of mindset does the unidentified cab driver who says it's useless to carry a gun because you won't have time to use it exhibit? He has a point about drawing on someone who already has a gun pointed at you, but I still think it's better to have the option.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...6C2BAF0300A6ABF38625710F00582A69?OpenDocument
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...6C2BAF0300A6ABF38625710F00582A69?OpenDocument
Threat of violence casts shadow over cabdriving
By Joel Currier
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/08/2006
When darkness falls, cabdriver Khader Hamoudan won't take a fare. At times, he fears for his life.
"It's a very dangerous job," said Hamoudan, 50, who has trolled the streets of St. Louis behind the wheel of a cab for nearly six years. "How do you know who has a gun, or who has a knife?"
For taxi drivers in many big cities, life on the streets often means long shifts, short tempers, low tips and high risks. Cabdrivers do one of the most dangerous jobs in the U.S. because they are rolling cash machines that make easy targets for robbers on the hunt for fast money.
Former Allen Cab Co. driver Don E. Cunningham, 44, of St. Louis, was reminded of those dangers on Jan. 24, when two teenagers he dropped off in the 3200 block of Nebraska Avenue threatened him with a shotgun and demanded money, police said.
Panicking, Cunningham reached for his pistol as the teens jumped out of the cab and fired one shot at them before speeding off, police said. The shot penetrated 16-year-old Corey Blanks' forehead, killing him. The other teen ran off.
Investigators believe Cunningham acted in self-defense. He was not charged in the killing.
He said in a telephone interview that he wouldn't discuss the shooting but said driving a cab is very dangerous. "You have to really, really be careful," he said. "I'm not even driving taxis anymore. I'm done." He said he is considering welding.
Taxi drivers face one of the highest rates of workplace violence, behind only police officers and jailers, according to a 2001 study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. From 1993 to 1999, the study showed, 128 cabdrivers out of 1,000 were attacked. American cabdrivers are 60 times more likely to be murdered on the job than other workers, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
In 2004, cabdrivers had the 10th-highest on-the-job death rate, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Loggers, pilots and commercial fishermen had the three highest death rates, respectively.
"It's really scary," said Michael Hailemariam, 27, of Olivette, who has been driving a cab in St. Louis for three months after moving here from Los Angeles and Ethiopia before that. "If somebody is a robber, he can take you any place he wants to rob you. The risk is high, I believe."
An eligible Missouri adult without a felony criminal record may have a handgun in his vehicle without a conceal-and-carry permit.
Also, no regulations bar cabdrivers from carrying weapons in their vehicles, said Michael Tully, director of the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission. Cab companies in Missouri set the rules for whether drivers can carry a weapon for protection, Tully said.
The approximately 2,000 licensed cabdrivers in St. Louis County have the right to refuse a fare if they perceive a threat to safety, Tully said. Most taxi drivers, however, typically don't carry much cash in the front seat, Tully said, because more customers are paying with credit cards. The commission requires cabs to accept at least one major credit card.
"If a robber were to attack a cabdriver, I think he would be lucky to get $20," Tully said.
Tully acknowledged that many cabdrivers in St. Louis have criminal records, but he said the commission carefully reviews applicants and checks with their parole officers before hiring them.
Some drivers said they feel safer avoiding certain parts of St. Louis or asking passengers to prepay to prevent riders from darting without paying or running inside a residence to collect extra cash. When that happens, drivers say they worry about their passengers retrieving a weapon as well.
"Cabs that are on call and dispatched to go pick up passengers, that is an area where I feel there is so much danger," said Ayomi Etchie, 52, of Belleville. Etchie said he has felt relatively safe in his two years driving cabs and has no need for a handgun because he works mostly daytime shifts downtown.
New York City drivers may carry weapons in their cars only if they get written permission from the city's Taxicab and Limousine Commission. Cab companies in Chicago must take several safety precautions. They must equip their fleets with silent activation systems that allow drivers to alert dispatchers to emergencies, install safes that drivers themselves cannot open and post signs that say drivers carry no more than $20 in cash.
Partitions or shields between the front and back seats are not required in Missouri as they are for licensed New York City cabs. A 1999 study conducted by researchers at the University of Tennessee demonstrated that cabs without shields leave drivers more vulnerable to assault.
Regardless of partitions, one Laclede Cab Co. driver who declined to be identified said it's pointless to carry a gun because drivers usually don't have time to defend themselves against gunfire. He said he was shot three times in the legs during a trip to East St. Louis a few years ago.
"It can be a dangerous job, but you've got to use common sense," he said. "You just hope the person who gets into your cab is an honest person."
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