Canadian Taxi Driver Homicides, 1917-2007

Next | Previous | Contents | Taxi-L Home

Morteza (Johnny) Khorassani Toronto, ON / Sept. 6, 2005 Morteza Khorassani, known to fellow drivers as Johnny, came to Canada from Iran around 1990. He had been driving for Able Atlantic Taxi for nearly all that time. He was 42 years old with a four-month-old son and a ten-year-old daughter. He often worked double shifts to purchase a townhouse in Richmond Hill and to help pay his wife's tuition at Centennial College. Around 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005 Khorassani was believed to have picked up a fare at the corner of Don Mills and Sheppard Avenue. Minutes later, at Don Mills and Lawrence Avenue East, Khorassani stumbled from his cab in an apartment parking lot and collapsed in a pool of blood 15 metres away. He had been stabbed once in the neck. Police arrested two men living in the apartment, but soon released them. They then arrested an 18-year-old man and charged him with murder. Khorassani's cab, which he leased from the owner, was equipped with a wide-angle digital camera. Police examined it for possible evidence. Following the murder of Mohammadullah Saighani on December 30, 1999, the Toronto Licensing Commission ordered cab owners to install either cameras or global positioning systems (GPS) in their cabs and the measure was credited with a drop in robberies: Year Number 1999 126 2000 100 2001 50 2002 45 2003 48 Assaults declined from 213 in 2000 to 139 in 2003. In May, 2005 the Licensing Commission ordered made cameras mandatory and gave cab owners until mid-2006 to install them. Some cab drivers called for the mandatory installation of shields. A survey carried out in 2000 found that 60% of Toronto's owners and drivers favoured shields as their first choice for protection. Top of Page | Next | Previous | Contents | Taxi-L Home