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Cab driver charged in assault of 19-year-old woman: Winnipeg police

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WINNIPEG -

Winnipeg police officers have arrested a 44-year-old cab driver for the alleged assault of a 19-year-old woman.

Police responded to a report of an assault at Portage Avenue and Arlington Street just before 1:10 a.m. on Sept. 26.

Officers from the major crimes unit investigated and arrested a 44-year-old man. He is facing charges of forcible confinement and assault. None of these charges have been proven in court.

The man has been released on an undertaking.

Last month, CTV News Winnipeg reported that 19-year-old Serenity Morrisseau said she was assaulted by a Winnipeg cab driver. However, the cab company said it was the driver being attacked.

Winnipeg police have confirmed this is the same incident.

According to Morrisseau, the incident took place when she and two friends were in a Unicity taxi on Portage. She said during the ride, the driver tried to pawn them off to another cab offering to take them to a party.

Morrisseau said she felt unsafe so she began to videotape the situation, which upset the driver, who then slammed on his brakes and stopped the car on Arlington and Portage.

The 19-year-old said her two friends and the driver got out of the cab. However, Morrisseau said she was not able to get out because the driver punched her four times through a window, then got into the driver’s seat and drove off. She noted she was halfway out the door.

“I could feel like the burning of my feet coming from being dragged like 30 kilometres an hour down Arlington,” Morrisseau said.

Morrisseau said she then squeezed her arms between the cab’s plastic shield and ceiling -- bruising her arms and breaking her nails – to grab the driver’s eyes and forehead, forcing him to stop the cab.

The 19-year-old said the driver pulled her out of the cab, and witnesses came to help her.

According to Satwinder Shahi, general manager of Unicity, the driver is the victim.

Shahi said the incident began when a passenger opened a beer and refused to wear a mask. He alleges the passenger began to attack the driver, which is why he stopped the cab and got out.

Shahi said once the two friends left the vehicle, the driver decided to drop Morrisseau off down the street to avoid conflict with all three of them.

“Only third one who was in the car and was aggressive and drunk, he preferred to drop her off like 500 metres from there,” he said.

Shahi noted that the driver had bruises on his eyes and his shirt was ripped off.

Unicity said the cab’s emergency strobe light was not activated, and that police have the video and audio from inside the cab.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Morrisseau’s mother Tracy Bone thanked people for their support and messages.

She said her daughter has begun her healing journey.

“Right now she needs to feel safe going to work everyday,” Bone said.

“Finding stability and releasing pain while working is tough for anyone let alone a 19 year old Indigenous woman with her own inheritance of #trauma from the legacy of Residential Prisons.”

In a video accompanying the Facebook post, Bone said we need to hold people accountable because “this cannot happen to anyone else’s children.”

“I don’t care what colour your skin is, I don’t care how much money you make, I don’t care where you come from. Every child matters,” she said.

Bone added that everyone has a right to their safety.

“It’s just that the environment around us doesn’t support that, so we need to create our own safety,” she said.

- With files from CTV’s Jeff Keele.

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