First Nations woman says she was attacked by Winnipeg cab driver, dragged by vehicle

WARNING: This story contains details and images that may be disturbing.

A 19-year-old Winnipeg woman hasbruises, scratches and broken fingernails she says are the result of a terrifying cab ride on the weekend but the cab company claimsit was thedriver who was attacked.

Serenity Morrisseausays a Unicity Taxidriver assaulted her and locked her inside the cab, speedingoff in the early hours of Sunday morning,leaving two of her friends standing in the middle ofthe road.

"I don't know where I would have ended up. I don't know where he was trying to take me," she saidat a news conference Tuesday in the office of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

Satwinder Shahi, Unicity's general manager, saysvideos from inside the taxi, whichhave been downloaded for police, will show that the driver was the one who was attacked.

"He was trying to save himself" from Morrisseau's friends, who were assaulting him, Shahisaid.

He says the driverstopped the car to letMorrisseauout assoon as hewas far enough from the two other girls.

Police say they are investigating the incident and have met with both Morrisseau and the cab driver.

"Each reported an assault and had visible injuries," a statement from police said.

The incident started shortly afterMorrisseau and herfriends first got into the cab atThe Forks skatepark around 1 a.m. Sunday, headingto the city's West End.

The cab stopped beside another taxi at a red light onPortage Avenue, near Carlton Street. Thedriver of the other cab and a passengeryelledfor the girls in Morrisseau's cab to go party with them, shesaid.

The girls laughed it off as a joke until their own driver started suggesting it, she said.

Morrisseautold him he shouldn't be suggesting that without knowing their ages. Her friends are 18 and 20.

"You're supposed to be in charge of our safety while we're in your cab," she says she told the driver, which"angered him a lot.That was kind of when things became out of control."

At Portage and Arlington Street, the driverslammed on the brakes and began yelling at the girls. He turned the corner on to Arlington and stopped again before getting out of the car.

Her two friends also jumped out, but Morrisseaudidn't have a chance because she was sitting behind the driver's seat.

"He had stepped out of the vehicle and just turned and he was at me. My window was rolled down and he took four shots [punches] at my face and my head," she said.

Video posted to Facebook

He then jumped back into the car to drive away. One ofMorrisseau's friends ran over to stop him but the driver shoved the friend onto the road and closed his door, Morrisseausaid, and then locked her door.

The car pulled awayasMorrisseauand her friends screamedfor the driver to stop.In a darkvideo posted on Facebook, the voices of two women can be heard swearing and shouting for the driver to unlock Morrisseau's door.

The car can then be heard driving awaywhile another voicefading into the distance screams "help me."

At one point, Morrisseausaid she got her door unlocked and opened it. She "kind of fell out a little bit" so that herlegs were dangling, the toes of her shoes dragging along the pavement, she said.

"I could feel the burning on my feet," Morrisseausaid, adding she thought about letting go and falling out, but she could see a car behind the cab.

"So I pulled myself up and as I was doing that I was screaming for help, waving my body outside of the cab."

Morrisseausays indesperation, shesqueezed her hand between ceiling of the cab and the Plexiglas shield separating the driver from rear passengers.She clawed at the driver's forehead and dug in her nails, breaking several of them and causing her fingers to bleed.

First Nations woman says she was attacked by Winnipeg cab driver, dragged by vehicle

3 years ago

Duration 2:52

A 19-year-old Winnipeg woman has bruises, scratches and broken fingernails she says are the result of a terrifying cab ride on the weekend but the cab company claims it was the driver who was attacked.

That forced the driver to stop at the intersection ofArlingtonand St. Matthews Avenue. He got out anddragged Morrisseau fromthe cabonto the road, she said.

A cyclist and two people in a car, who had seen thecommotion and followed the cab until it stopped, went to Morrisseau's aid. The people in the car also called 911 as the cab drove away.

Safety concerns for First Nations people: AMC

Morrisseau's mom, musician Tracy Bone, was playing a show at the time of the incident and found a series of messages on her phone afterward.

Bone said she was filled with a feeling of helplessness when she heard what happened.

"I think it is always a mother's worst fear for something like that to ever happen," she said.

She posted photos of Morrisseau's injuries on Facebook, along with the video of the screaming, and thanked the "angels" who helped her daughter afterwards.

"My baby girl may not be here today had she not fought for her freedom and won," Bone wrote in her post.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, which hosted Tuesday's news conference, said the woman shared her story to raise awareness of "the safety concerns of First Nations regarding taxis."

"Too often, First Nations people are targeted and attacked while using taxi services," the AMC said in a news release. "Unfortunately, these stories are seldom heard by the public."

Driver was attacked, frightened: cab company

Shahi, however, said his driver is the one who feels fortunate to have gotten away. The driver would not speak to reporters on Tuesday because he was too nervous and still scared, Shahi said. The driver is not currently working, he said.

When thegirls werepicked up, they were drunk and ordered the driver to go to aliquor vendor, where they bought more alcohol and opened it in the cab, Shahi said.

They then started bothering the driver, rattling the shield andgrabbing at him and the taxi meter. When the car pulled up next to the other cab on Portage, thesituation was getting worse and thedriver suggestedthe girls just get out,Shahi said.

By the time the car reached Arlington, the driver was frightened and got out to walk away, Shahi said. He claims Morrisseau's friendsattacked him and he scrambled to get back in. He drove anotherblockbefore asking Morrisseau to leave, Shahi said.

The driver was bruised and his shirt torn, according to Shahi.

Although taxis have a button that turns on an emergencylight on the car's roof, the driver neveractivated it because he wastoo panicked to think of it, Shahi said.

He denied the driver ever hit Morrisseau butcouldn't say where her injuries came from. He was also unaware she was allegedly dragged.