Disturbing

Taxi Driver Found Shot To Death In Cab

A woman made a gruesome discovery Sunday morning in Lexington when she found a taxi driver shot to death in his cab. Several people who live on Hedgewood Court say they feared the worst when they heard gunshots just before one o'clock Sunday morning. They later noticed a cab just sitting in the back of a parking lot.

It's in the Woodhill-Codell area, about halfway between where I live and where I work. I take the bus through there when the combo Woodhill-Richmond Road route runs late at night. It's gotten rougher over the last few years.

For all I know, I may have had this driver before on one of my cab rides home. He was from Morocco, and I've ridden with several cab drivers from Arabic countries. He leaves behind a wife and four-year-old daughter. I feel so sorry for them.

I do not think I could ever drive a cab for a living. You literally never know who you have riding behind you, what kind of weapon they may have, etc. It makes me nervous, as a woman riding by herself, to take cabs home at times, but at least they are required to display ID, etc. No one knows who a fare really is. The cab company has whatever name the person gives and a phone number, which could be public. Also, it may not have been a fare robbing him, but rather some sort of drive by shooting, etc.--someone heard a car speed off at the time of the gunshots. Unfortunately, he wasn't found until this morning, although people heard gunshots around 1 am, which makes me wonder if anyone even dialed 911 that night. It might have saved his life.

Years ago I lived in the Richmond Road-Lakeshore Drive area, and I heard gunshots come from that direction. We could hear them all across New Circle Road. I got away from the windows and called, as did several others in my apartment complex. They were tracing the gunshots by the location of the callers. I can't imagine not calling 911. The woman who found him thought what she heard was fireworks, and only recalled them after she found the body. But others knew the sound of gunshots. Why didn't they call?

It's sad. I'm not sure how many murders Lexington is up to this year. It's actually a fairly safe city, but such shootings are troubling.

Twice in one week? Really?

Last Thursday I waited two hours for a Yellow Cab to pick me up from a friend's house and take me home, even though it was a sober cash fare and an easy route. But Thursday is the night the kids from the University of Kentucky go out and party at the clubs. I finally got home at 2:45 am and couldn't sleep, then went to work like death warmed over the next morning, managed to make it to 5 pm, and then came home and slept 15 hours.

Tonight I went over to the same friend's house to work on a project. I called the Yellow Cab company at 1 or 1:30 but they didn't answer the phone so I called the only other cab service in town, Mr Taxi. Initially, my experience with them was better. The dispatcher called after about 45 minutes to update me and apologise for not being able to get a cab out yet. But I waited, yet again, about 2 hours total before getting anyone to pick me up, and got a new guy who couldn't find the house, was lost without a GPS, and when I got home (despite it taking 2 extra dollars for the 'short way' I normally take), informed me that he could not run a credit card. I'd specifically asked for a cab that could do this. I told him my bank was nearby, made note of the meter (which he did not turn off), and then directed him to the bank and back. I explained how much the meter had been, and I was willing to pay that plus tip (about $15 total), which he didn't want to go for. He called the dispatcher, who apologised and said yes, it was his fault, he knew I needed a credit card method, but perhaps they could take down my card information and run it the next day on another driver's system. I wasn't about to do this with my credit (really, debit) card information, so I just handed him the $20 bill and said, fine, here. Once inside my apartment, I called the cab company and lodged a complaint. The dispatcher said he would talk to his supervisor in the morning to see if they could issue me a refund for the overpayment. I seriously do not expect anything to come of that, although if it does, I will consider using their service again. As it stands, unless someone at least calls me about the situation, I will sleep on my friend's rug rather than be jerked around like this again.

I really hate that Lexington only has two cab companies. Ever since All-American Taxi went out of business, there's just Yellow Cab/Wildcat Taxi and Mr Taxi. There seems to be no real need on anyone's part to provide speedy and good service. I'm a very undemanding fare, always tip well, etc. It's annoying enough that in one week I've paid more in cab fare than an entire month's bus pass costs. It's worse that these people can't seem to get their acts together and their service was incredibly inconvenient.

Grrrrr.....

It's amazing

just how tiring it can be to wait for over two hours to get home by taxi. I called at 12:30 am and after several phone calls, a threat to go with the only other cab company in town which suddenly produced a car coming for me, and a dead cell phone battery, I walked through my doorway at 2:45.

I wish my old cab company were still in business.

Good news/bad news

Good news: A friend fixed a wonderful gourmet dinner that was incredibly good and satisfying.

Bad news: I missed the last bus because we were eating.

Good news: I called a cab and it came and got me and took me home.

Bad news: It declined my debit card because the cheque I deposited today doesn't go through until midnight (it was about 11:40 pm).

Good news: The cab driver was great and handed me his card and told me to call him when I had the funds available and we'd take care of it then.

Good news: The cheque will go through and I'll be able to pay him, although I may wait until Wednesday when I get paid so I can up his tip. But I'm thankful he was so understanding.

Good news: I get paid both Wednesday and Thursday, so the time of no money (which frankly has been pretty short this time) will be over and I can pay all my bills.

Bad news: Of course, I still have that tax bill hanging over me as well.

Good news: I'm home, safe and sound. I think I'll go on to bed. Good night.

It figures

I went to bed at a decent hour last night (for me), a little after 1:30, after searching out some information for our game master. But I tossed and turned in the bed for a good two hours without sleep, and then I apparently slept through several alarms (one VERY loud one to wake the dead, along with my cell phone wake-up-tones-every-10-minutes-for-an-hour. I woke up exactly when I should have stepped off the bus at my friend's house. Since that is also an hour before another bus, and then an hour's ride after that, I'm now waiting for a taxi to take me there. It should be here in 20-30 minutes, fair given that it's almost time for churches to start, and at least I'll get there by about 10 rather than 11. The game starts at 1 and I have to have some time to get the house ready. Normally I start at 8 or 9 am. Agghhhh!!!

I just came home in a cab

because my brakes failed tonight--although fortunately I was in someone's driveway when it happened, and I was able to shift gears quickly, since my brake pedal was on the floor with nothing working. I'm really glad it didn't happen when I was out on the road, especially during rush hour or anything. Now the question becomes when I can fix it; I might be able to swing it at the end of the month and be late on my rent, or it may be a couple of weeks after that. I figure it'll be $400-$500. Gack.