Calgary police lay charges after another cabbie falls victim to hateful attack by passengers
Brittany Bachinsky, 24, faces hate crime charges in videotaped diatribe
By Michael Platt, Calgary Sun
First posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2015 11:36 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, August 27, 2015 12:15 AM EDT
The camera doesn’t lie — even when the truth is ugly, ignorant and fuelled by the puny mind of someone who thinks just being born makes you a worthy Canadian.
Thanks to a camera, an obnoxious Calgary cab passenger is headed to court under hate crime charges, her profanity-laden verbal attack on a taxi driver recorded for police, prosecutors and a judge to see.
“The camera is very good for us,” said Safouh Ranna, who was the victim of a racist diatribe and assault in July 2014, as he tried to ferry three passengers in his cab.
And that’s the best part: The cameras installed in every single Calgary cab since 2013 are both mandatory and obvious, thanks to a conspicuous notice posted inches from the passenger’s nose, telling them they are being recorded on camera for security purposes.
On camera. Being recorded. Conspicuous.
You’d have to been visually challenged or a total moron to not realize your every move is under constant scrutiny — and the people seen on the video taken in Ranna’s cab sure appear to have decent eyesight.
MORE: Man at centre of 2013 racist assault against Calgary cabbie receiving death threats
One of them, to be fair, stays relatively silent as his two co-passengers berate and insult Ranna for not being a real Canadian, the blond woman in the back seat saying “I don’t know why the (expletive) they let people like this in our (expletive) country. You shouldn’t be allowed in my country.”
It gets worse, especially after Ranna defends himself as being a Canadian, telling the passengers, “it’s not your country.”
“It is my (expletive) country buddy. Where are you from? Where are you from,” she screeches at the driver.
“(Expletive) that. You have an (expletive) accent buddy,” she adds, as the mohawk-wearing man in the from passenger seat joins in, “it’s our country.”
Police say the woman then threatens the driver with violence, while calling him disrespectful — and that was enough for police to lay charges.
Brittany Bachinsky, 24, is now charged with uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, after the Calgary police Hate Crimes Unit determined the abuse suffered by Ranna was indeed fuelled by hateful bias.
With the Crown in agreement, that means the threat charge against Bachinsky, if proven in court, will be sentenced as a hate crime, meaning the sentence could as much as double.
In Canada, the maximum sentence for uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm is five years in prison.
Her mohawked pal, who allegedly later broke the camera and then punched the cab driver after refusing to pay the fare, is also being sought by Calgary police — and with crystal clear pictures of his face and everything he said and did, cops say an arrest should be coming soon.
For Ranna, who took more than a month off work following the attack — “I felt depressed,” he said — the charges are some consolation for an ordeal that left him emotionally drained and upset.
MORE: RCMP re-open investigation into shocking abuse of a Calgary cabbie
“I’m happy because the police could catch them,” said Ranna.
He says the potential for a harsh sentence under hate crime legislation is only fair for what the passengers did.
“I feel okay about it — you make a mistake, you have to pay,” he said.
The racist rant is one of two cabbie attacks to make headlines in Calgary in recent months, after a 2013 video of an Airdrie man snarling racial slurs at a taxi driver surfaced, leading RCMP to reopen the case, though charges have yet to be laid.
For Calgary police, the clear audio and excellent video captured by the camera in Ranna’s cab was key to laying charges.
Originally installed in a few cabs as a protection against robbery and violence, the cameras became common, and then mandatory in 2013, after city council voted that all Calgary taxi drivers be protected by CCTV.
“The cameras are always going to be our best evidence — the clarity is very good, and they have audio,” Det. Matt Baker. “The cameras are excellent, and without them we’d struggle to prove the offence.”
michael.platt@sunmedia.ca
RELATED:
RICK BELL: City taxi overseer thinks racist attack video shows hate crime
Calgary cab passenger who hurled insults at driver and allegedly assaulted him no longer with last-known employer
RCMP to release info on case of Calgary taxi driver allegedly assauledt by fare
Cab driver Safou Ranna mugs for a photo with his taxi outside his home in Calgary, Alta., on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015. Brittany Bachinsky, a woman allegedly caught on camera verbally abusing him, is charged with a hate crime. Lyle Aspinall/Calgary Sun/Postmedia Network
Calgary police lay charges after another cabbie falls victim to hateful attack b
Brittany Bachinsky, 24, faces hate crime charges in videotaped diatribe
By Michael Platt, Calgary Sun
First posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2015 11:36 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, August 27, 2015 12:15 AM EDT
The camera doesn’t lie — even when the truth is ugly, ignorant and fuelled by the puny mind of someone who thinks just being born makes you a worthy Canadian.
Thanks to a camera, an obnoxious Calgary cab passenger is headed to court under hate crime charges, her profanity-laden verbal attack on a taxi driver recorded for police, prosecutors and a judge to see.
“The camera is very good for us,” said Safouh Ranna, who was the victim of a racist diatribe and assault in July 2014, as he tried to ferry three passengers in his cab.
And that’s the best part: The cameras installed in every single Calgary cab since 2013 are both mandatory and obvious, thanks to a conspicuous notice posted inches from the passenger’s nose, telling them they are being recorded on camera for security purposes.
On camera. Being recorded. Conspicuous.
You’d have to been visually challenged or a total moron to not realize your every move is under constant scrutiny — and the people seen on the video taken in Ranna’s cab sure appear to have decent eyesight.
MORE: Man at centre of 2013 racist assault against Calgary cabbie receiving death threats
One of them, to be fair, stays relatively silent as his two co-passengers berate and insult Ranna for not being a real Canadian, the blond woman in the back seat saying “I don’t know why the (expletive) they let people like this in our (expletive) country. You shouldn’t be allowed in my country.”
It gets worse, especially after Ranna defends himself as being a Canadian, telling the passengers, “it’s not your country.”
“It is my (expletive) country buddy. Where are you from? Where are you from,” she screeches at the driver.
“(Expletive) that. You have an (expletive) accent buddy,” she adds, as the mohawk-wearing man in the from passenger seat joins in, “it’s our country.”
Police say the woman then threatens the driver with violence, while calling him disrespectful — and that was enough for police to lay charges.
Brittany Bachinsky, 24, is now charged with uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, after the Calgary police Hate Crimes Unit determined the abuse suffered by Ranna was indeed fuelled by hateful bias.
With the Crown in agreement, that means the threat charge against Bachinsky, if proven in court, will be sentenced as a hate crime, meaning the sentence could as much as double.
In Canada, the maximum sentence for uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm is five years in prison.
Her mohawked pal, who allegedly later broke the camera and then punched the cab driver after refusing to pay the fare, is also being sought by Calgary police — and with crystal clear pictures of his face and everything he said and did, cops say an arrest should be coming soon.
For Ranna, who took more than a month off work following the attack — “I felt depressed,” he said — the charges are some consolation for an ordeal that left him emotionally drained and upset.
MORE: RCMP re-open investigation into shocking abuse of a Calgary cabbie
“I’m happy because the police could catch them,” said Ranna.
He says the potential for a harsh sentence under hate crime legislation is only fair for what the passengers did.
“I feel okay about it — you make a mistake, you have to pay,” he said.
The racist rant is one of two cabbie attacks to make headlines in Calgary in recent months, after a 2013 video of an Airdrie man snarling racial slurs at a taxi driver surfaced, leading RCMP to reopen the case, though charges have yet to be laid.
For Calgary police, the clear audio and excellent video captured by the camera in Ranna’s cab was key to laying charges.
Originally installed in a few cabs as a protection against robbery and violence, the cameras became common, and then mandatory in 2013, after city council voted that all Calgary taxi drivers be protected by CCTV.
“The cameras are always going to be our best evidence — the clarity is very good, and they have audio,” Det. Matt Baker. “The cameras are excellent, and without them we’d struggle to prove the offence.”
michael.platt@sunmedia.ca
RELATED:
RICK BELL: City taxi overseer thinks racist attack video shows hate crime
Calgary cab passenger who hurled insults at driver and allegedly assaulted him no longer with last-known employer
RCMP to release info on case of Calgary taxi driver allegedly assauledt by fare
Cab driver Safou Ranna mugs for a photo with his taxi outside his home in Calgary, Alta., on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015. Brittany Bachinsky, a woman allegedly caught on camera verbally abusing him, is charged with a hate crime. Lyle Aspinall/Calgary Sun/Postmedia Network
Calgary police lay charges after another cabbie falls victim to hateful attack b