bloodrayne
08-25-2004, 04:01 AM
Taxi Driver Set Aflame In Robbery Attempt
The hunt was on Friday night for a man who lit a cab driver on fire during an attempted robbery in downtown Las Vegas.
While a police helicopter searched from the air, officers fanned out through the area north of the Stratosphere looking for the man who doused the cabbie with fuel and set him aflame after he refused to hand over money, police said.
"He said, `No,' and the guy's on him. It's really bizarre," robbery Lt. Ted Snodgrass said.
The driver for Nellis Cab Co. was burned over most of his upper body, but he was conscious at the scene before being whisked to University Medical Center, witnesses and police said.
The driver was stable late Friday, but burn cases such as his can quickly turn for the worst, Snodgrass said.
"I've never seen this before," Snodgrass said. "I've done this 26 years. This is nuts."
The suspect was a white man in his early 30s. He was about 5 feet 10 inches tall with a skinny build and dirty blond hair. He was wearing dark blue or black pants and a blue T-shirt.
Witnesses told police the man might be a local who hangs around the area near Las Vegas Boulevard South and St. Louis Avenue. However, most witnesses were focused on the burning man and didn't get a good look at the robber as he slipped away into the night, Snodgrass said.
The cabbie picked up the robber before 8 p.m. outside the Olympic Garden strip club. Almost immediately, the man demanded the driver's money. When the driver refused, the man doused him with a flammable liquid, probably gasoline, and set him on fire with a match, Snodgrass said.
Engulfed in flames, the cabbie stopped and jumped out of the car.
Jessica Dawson, a 15-year-old visiting from Southern California, was in the back of a passing car when her cousin screamed something about a man on fire.
She looked up and saw the cabbie on his feet, flailing his arms, trying to put out the fire.
"He was a big ball of flames," Dawson said. "It looked like a stuntman."
Her cousin, Dominick Tardive, 21, spun the car around and flagged down some police officers just down the road.
"They looked at us like we were crazy," he said. Within moments, police realized they were serious.
The officers rushed to the scene in front of the Chapel of Love. A passerby had already put out the fire with an extinguisher from the cab, Snodgrass said.
As police talked to the driver, Dawson and her friends could tell he was severely burned. His shirt was gone and his blackened skin was peeling, they said.
"He didn't seem like he was in a lot of pain, like he was just shocked," Dawson said.
Officials at Nellis Cab declined comment late Friday.
Cab driver safety has been a high-profile issue this year, as cabbies have lobbied for mandatory security cameras but have faced ambivalence among owners and the Taxicab Authority.
The board in February put off a decision on mandating cab cams, asking instead for further study. It was at least the third time a camera plan has failed to pass board muster since the early 1990s.
"I told the owners back then, there'd be blood on the owners' hands," said Art McClenaghan, a former cab driver and camera advocate. "They keep delaying. They keep procrastinating."
Las Vegas police have favored cab cams. "It does provide a witness to a criminal act," police Sgt. Bob Roshak told the board in February.
A study examining driver and tourist preferences in security devices is expected to be completed next month. But one of the authority's newest board members recently expressed frustration on the pace of determining what to do.
"We ought to be doing this and not dragging this on," board member Ed Goldman told colleagues last month.
McClenaghan said violence is something cab drivers have always had to contend with.
"It's always been an up-and-down thing. It just goes in spurts" said McClenaghan, who was a cabbie until earlier this year. "As this town gets bigger, it'll only get worse."
"There's really not much you can do," he said. "You just use your common sense, but your common sense doesn't always work.
"That's why drivers are hoping for more safety (devices)."
The hunt was on Friday night for a man who lit a cab driver on fire during an attempted robbery in downtown Las Vegas.
While a police helicopter searched from the air, officers fanned out through the area north of the Stratosphere looking for the man who doused the cabbie with fuel and set him aflame after he refused to hand over money, police said.
"He said, `No,' and the guy's on him. It's really bizarre," robbery Lt. Ted Snodgrass said.
The driver for Nellis Cab Co. was burned over most of his upper body, but he was conscious at the scene before being whisked to University Medical Center, witnesses and police said.
The driver was stable late Friday, but burn cases such as his can quickly turn for the worst, Snodgrass said.
"I've never seen this before," Snodgrass said. "I've done this 26 years. This is nuts."
The suspect was a white man in his early 30s. He was about 5 feet 10 inches tall with a skinny build and dirty blond hair. He was wearing dark blue or black pants and a blue T-shirt.
Witnesses told police the man might be a local who hangs around the area near Las Vegas Boulevard South and St. Louis Avenue. However, most witnesses were focused on the burning man and didn't get a good look at the robber as he slipped away into the night, Snodgrass said.
The cabbie picked up the robber before 8 p.m. outside the Olympic Garden strip club. Almost immediately, the man demanded the driver's money. When the driver refused, the man doused him with a flammable liquid, probably gasoline, and set him on fire with a match, Snodgrass said.
Engulfed in flames, the cabbie stopped and jumped out of the car.
Jessica Dawson, a 15-year-old visiting from Southern California, was in the back of a passing car when her cousin screamed something about a man on fire.
She looked up and saw the cabbie on his feet, flailing his arms, trying to put out the fire.
"He was a big ball of flames," Dawson said. "It looked like a stuntman."
Her cousin, Dominick Tardive, 21, spun the car around and flagged down some police officers just down the road.
"They looked at us like we were crazy," he said. Within moments, police realized they were serious.
The officers rushed to the scene in front of the Chapel of Love. A passerby had already put out the fire with an extinguisher from the cab, Snodgrass said.
As police talked to the driver, Dawson and her friends could tell he was severely burned. His shirt was gone and his blackened skin was peeling, they said.
"He didn't seem like he was in a lot of pain, like he was just shocked," Dawson said.
Officials at Nellis Cab declined comment late Friday.
Cab driver safety has been a high-profile issue this year, as cabbies have lobbied for mandatory security cameras but have faced ambivalence among owners and the Taxicab Authority.
The board in February put off a decision on mandating cab cams, asking instead for further study. It was at least the third time a camera plan has failed to pass board muster since the early 1990s.
"I told the owners back then, there'd be blood on the owners' hands," said Art McClenaghan, a former cab driver and camera advocate. "They keep delaying. They keep procrastinating."
Las Vegas police have favored cab cams. "It does provide a witness to a criminal act," police Sgt. Bob Roshak told the board in February.
A study examining driver and tourist preferences in security devices is expected to be completed next month. But one of the authority's newest board members recently expressed frustration on the pace of determining what to do.
"We ought to be doing this and not dragging this on," board member Ed Goldman told colleagues last month.
McClenaghan said violence is something cab drivers have always had to contend with.
"It's always been an up-and-down thing. It just goes in spurts" said McClenaghan, who was a cabbie until earlier this year. "As this town gets bigger, it'll only get worse."
"There's really not much you can do," he said. "You just use your common sense, but your common sense doesn't always work.
"That's why drivers are hoping for more safety (devices)."