Saskatoon

Regina taxi driver uses bat to disarm hatchet-wielding assailant: police

Regina police have charged a 51-year-old man with assault after he allegedly threatened a taxicab driver. It was the second time a taxi driver was threatened in Regina that day.

51-year-old facing charges

File - A Regina Police Service cruiser
Regina police have charged a 51-year-old man with assault with a weapon after he allegedly threatened a taxi driver with a hatchet. (Alexander Quon/CBC)

A Regina taxi driver batted a hatchet away from an assailant during an altercation Saturday night, according to Regina police.

Police were called to Dewdney Avenue near the Albert Street intersection at about 9 p.m. CST Saturday.

A man and a woman were riding in a taxi when the man threatened the driver with a hatchet, according to a police news release. The driver pulled over near a coworker's parked taxi. The driver of the second taxi then got out of their vehicle and ordered the assailant and the woman to leave.

The man threatened the second taxi driver with his hatchet, police say. One of the taxi drivers was then able to smack the man's hand with a bat, knocking away the hatchet, at which point the man and woman fled, police say.

Police say the man was arrested without incident at a nearby restaurant. A 51-year-old man is now facing assault with a weapon charges and is set to appear in court in late January.

This incident was the second taxi-related assault that happened in Regina on Saturday.

A separate incident also led to a dozen charges against a 32-year-old woman who allegedly threatened a cab driver, stole the vehicle and crashed through several stores in the Cornwall Centre.