Passenger accused of stealing cab after trying to attack Winnipeg taxi driver with car jack

A 34-year-old man has been charged with robbery after police say he attempted to assault a taxi driver with a car jack and then tried to flee in the stolen vehicle, before crashing into a snowbank.

Winnipeg police say they got a report around 2 a.m. Friday of a taxi driver in distress.

Officers were told a man got into a cab on the 1400 block of Notre Dame Avenue, west of Erin Street. At some point during the trip, he verbally assaulted the 35-year-old driver without provocation, and then armed himself with a car jack that he got from the cab's trunk, police said in a Saturday news release.

The driver stopped the vehicle near the intersection of St. James and Wellington Avenue to call for help from police and another taxi driver.  

The passenger got out of the taxi and smashed the driver-side window with the jack, according to police. He then forcibly removed the driver from the taxi and tried to assault him with the car jack, but didn't make contact, police said.

The passenger chased the driver to the other taxi that had arrived, and hit that vehicle with the car jack, damaging its trunk, according to police.

The driver had a minor cut to his hand from broken glass, but did not require medical attention. 

The attacker then fled in the victim's now unoccupied taxi, but soon lost control and ran into a snowbank a few blocks north from where the taxi had stopped.

The vehicle was left undrivable, and the man tried to flee on foot before he was arrested, police said.

He has been charged with robbery, theft of a motor vehicle, mischief over $5,000 and mischief under $5,000.