Repeat offender's alleged escape through red light highlights dangers of illegal ride-hailing
Subject of search warrant accused of fleeing illegal ride-hailing crackdowns in Burnaby and Richmond, B.C.
RCMP in Richmond, B.C., are considering dangerous driving charges against a scofflaw Mercedes driver accused of trying to evade an illegal ride-hailing sting by fleeing into oncoming traffic.
Police claim the 39-year-old suspect was caught on camera blowing past a red light and weaving through a busy intersection after he was flagged down by officers in a joint operation between RCMP, the City of Richmond and the provincial Passenger Transportation Board (PTB).
The incident took place in August 2022 — but RCMP didn't get a search warrant for the Richmond man's phones until last spring and are still waiting for charge approval by the Crown.
The information sworn to obtain the warrant underscores the dangers of unregulated, illegal ride-hailing for both would-be passengers and other members of the driving public.
"There's no criminal checks being done; there's no driver's licence checks on the drivers themselves," Richmond RCMP Cpl. Dennis Hwang told CBC News.
"So the riders themselves are at risk as well as the general public. We don't have any knowledge of any sort of background for these sort of drivers."
Hwang would not comment on the criminal investigation or the allegations in the search warrant. CBC is not naming the driver because he has not yet been charged with any criminal offences. Officers are investigating him for dangerous driving and fleeing a police officer.
According to court documents, the same suspect has previously been fined under the Motor Vehicle Act for driving without a licence and operating a passenger vehicle without a permit. He was also caught in a separate illegal ride-hailing sting in nearby Burnaby, B.C., in April 2022.
The warrant claims the man also tried to evade officers in that crackdown "by mounting a curb, but luckily turned into a dead end area and was stopped by police."
'The Mercedes did not stop'
According to the search warrant, an enforcement officer with the PTB booked a ride with the suspect on Aug. 17, 2022, through an unlicensed ride-hailing app called Udi Kuaiche.
When the driver's white Mercedes hatchback pulled up, a Richmond bylaw officer opened the door and then backed away.
"The vehicle began driving away," the officer who swore the warrant wrote. "I believe the driver realized that he was the target of an enforcement operation."
A police officer pulled his car up behind the Mercedes, turning on the red and blue emergency lights as well as a siren and air horn.
"The Mercedes did not stop," the warrant reads. "The Mercedes struck a curb while attempting to flee from police and began speeding up."
Police gave up the chase, deeming it too dangerous to continue. But they found a video of what happened next posted on a Facebook group dedicated to bad driving in Richmond.
"The Mercedes passed vehicles stopped at a red light facing northbound, by driving into the oncoming southbound lanes," the warrant says.
"The Mercedes entered the intersection against a red light, weaving through east- and westbound traffic."
'An attempt to taunt law enforcement'
According to the warrant, things took a turn for the bizarre when the enforcement officer who booked the ride with the suspect driver received a text with a screenshot of a chat in Chinese "which meant something to the effect of 'I almost got caught today.'"
The enforcement officer claimed the screenshot was sent to him on the phone he used to book the driver and said it was "sent to him as an attempt to taunt law enforcement."
Police arrested the driver in September 2022, seizing four phones in the process. They obtained the search warrant in order to search the devices for evidence of crimes.
In the weeks after the arrest, police received emails from someone claiming to be the driver, "in part detailing how inconvenient having his vehicle seized was."
Hwang said it's difficult to measure the degree to which illegal ride-hailing is proliferating in the city of Richmond.
"There could be certain ride-sharing apps that have gone under and new ride-sharing apps have filled in that void. It is very hard to say."
'Not even based in Canada'
The search warrant highlights challenges authorities face in trying to crack down on illegal ride-hailing.
A 2018 Legislative Assembly standing committee report written ahead of the legislation enabling legal ride-hailing in B.C. stressed the need for rules targeting both drivers and the ride-hailing platforms employing them.
Amendments to the Passenger Transportation Act allowed for fines of up to $5,000 against drivers, which can be levied on a daily basis for repeat offenders. Transportation services companies can face fines of up to $100,000.
But Hwang said fining and charging illegal ride-hailing companies can be difficult.
"You have to ask yourself where they're dispatching from," he said, likening the services to WeChat.
"They might not be dispatching from this country at all. The app headquarters may not even be based in Canada."
Udi Kuaiche's webpage says the company operates ride-hailing services in Vancouver, Toronto, Los Angeles and Sydney. The company did not return an email from CBC News.
The officer who swore the information to obtain the search warrant also noted the description of the car provided by the app was wrong.
"From my past experiences on these operations," he wrote, "I believe that some providers provide fake information on the Udi app to avoid detection by police."
A trail of court documents pertaining to the suspect in the Richmond case raises questions about the effectiveness of enforcement.
The same driver is still awaiting trial on Motor Vehicle Act charges arising from the Burnaby ride-hailing sting in April 2022; he has a court date set for April 2024.
In the time since, in addition to the August 2022 sting, he has been fined in connection with another Richmond ride-hailing crackdown in July 2022, and charged with separate Motor Vehicle Act infractions — including driving uninsured — in October 2023.
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