A street race on Mount Pleasant Road Tuesday night ended in a horrific crash that claimed the life of Diamond taxi driver Tahir Khan, a recent immigrant who was planning to bring his wife and children to Canada from Pakistan."He visited his family last year in Pakistan. He was working to live the Canadian dream and that dream has been taken away from him," said Diamond's general manager Jim Bell. "He was a hardworking, quiet man."
Police allege two northbound Mercedes were racing at about 10:20 p.m. One car struck Khan's southbound cab, which was turning left onto Whitehall Road. The impact sent the taxi into a pole on the northeast corner of the intersection. The second northbound car fled. Both northbound drivers were later arrested. They reportedly were graduates of St. Andrew's College, a prestigious private school in Aurora.
Det. Paul Lobsinger said police found the video game Need for Speed on a front seat of the car that hit the cab. "It's a racing simulation game where you race high-end cars through downtown areas where people live," he said. "You race against time and you cause all kinds of mayhem and violence and death ... What we had at our collision scene was very similar."
The driver of the car that hit the cab received a few scratches.
Lobsinger said witnesses told police the racing cars were travelling at 130 to 140 km-h. The speed limit on Mount Pleasant Road is 50 km-h.
Khan, who was pronounced dead at the scene, is the city's seventh traffic death of the year.
The 46-year-old came to Canada six years ago and worked at a gas station before becoming a cabbie.
Bell called the crash a preventable tragedy. "Diamond Taxi carries a blanket insurance policy for drivers if they're killed while they're in the performance of their duties, so we've already been in contact with the insurance company," he said, adding, "We're already taking steps to help the family."
Khan, who lived in the Kingston Road and Warden Avenue area of Scarborough, was cruising the city when the collision occurred. He was about halfway through his shift.
Jim Walker, president of the South Eglinton Ratepayers' and Residents' Association, said drag racing is not a chronic problem on Mount Pleasant Road. "It's not something I've known to be an epidemic and none of our residents have called us to act on their behalf with regards to it," he said. "But in the same breath, it's absolutely a concern when something like (the accident) happens."
Police closed Mount Pleasant Road for several hours as they investigated. Witnesses to the crash are asked to call the traffic services unit at 416-808-1900 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477).
Alexander Ryazanov, 18, has been charged with criminal negligence causing death.
Wang-Piao Dumani Ross, also 18, has been charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to stop after an accident causing death.
- with files from Justin Skinner