A Duncan taxi driver came to the rescue of a 19-year-old man late last month when he scared off three other men who were beating him with a baseball bat.
The taxi driver then gave the victim a ride home.
The victim had been walking home along Tzoualem Road early on the morning of July 25 when he was approached by another man in a dark hoodie wielding a bat. He was able to get away at first, but the armed man and his two accomplices caught up to him soon afterwards and started beating him.
The suspects, who were all in their mid-20s and wearing dark clothing, ran off when the cab approached.
Another taxi driver, who asked not to be named, said such occurrences are not unusual for cabbies who are on the roads at night.
“It happens, and it happens a lot,” he said.
The driver confirmed that one of his colleagues had been dispatched to Maple Bay and ran across the assault in progress at the roundabout near Queen of Angels School.
“He came along and stopped it from happening and the three punks took off,” the driver said.
Based on some of the things they encounter on the streets of Duncan at night, cabbies often congregate to “debrief” after shifts.
“As a cab driver, I’ve seen a lot,” the driver said. “We see a lot of drugs, a lot of addicts, a lot of domestic disputes.”
He added that cab drivers help police as much as they can, whether that means being extra sets of eyes on the community, or giving rides to passengers after a drunk driver is stopped.
“I like doing my part for the community, keeping the community safe,” he said.
Sometimes helping out means giving a safe ride to a payphone or 7-Eleven to someone walking the streets alone at night.
“We don’t want another Tyeshia Jones situation,” the cabbie said.