The Toronto Star: Road-rage cabbie who hit cyclist jailed 2 years
Published on Tuesday October 02, 2012
A judge sentenced a former Toronto cabbie to two years less a day imprisonment Tuesday for mangling the leg of a cyclist during a road rage dispute.
Sultan Ahmed, 41, reversed his taxi into cyclist Krzysztof Kastelewicz’s bicycle after they had a heated argument on Nov.14, 2008.
Ahmed crushed Kastelewicz’s leg in the process, mangling it beyond repair and forcing doctors to amputate it just above the knee.
The two men were arguing on the street after Ahmed nearly struck Kastelewicz, 40, as he crossed Dovercourt Rd., near Argyle St.
“The victim in this matter is not entirely blameless,” Justice John McMahon said Tuesday in Ontario Superior Court. “Both men are equally culpable for getting into a heated argument in which (Kastelewicz) likely hit (Ahmed).”
After the argument, Kastelewicz, who also probably kicked and dented Ahmed’s taxi, began walking back to his bicycle, which he’d left against a lamp post, said McMahon.
Ahmed got back into his taxi and deliberately used it as a weapon to strike Kastelewicz’s bike, knowing full well Kastelewicz was in close proximity, said McMahon.
“The accused not only had to back up his vehicle, he had to leave the roadway, jump a small curb, cross the sidewalk, and then crush the bicycle and the cyclists’ leg,” said McMahon.
Kastelewicz’s “bone fragments and vein fragments (were) splattered all over” the sidewalk, according to earlier testimony from Const. Usman Haroon.
Kastelewicz’s pelvic bone was fractured and the artery in his right leg severed, said McMahon.
“If it wasn’t for the neighbour hearing his scream and calling 9-1-1, (Kastelewicz) in all likelihood would have bled to death,” said McMahon, noting Ahmed fled the scene.
Ahmed then washed Kastelewicz’s blood off his taxi and contacted police hours later claiming Kastelewicz had threatened him with a gun, said McMahon.
McMahon rejected Ahmed’s version of events in a judge-alone trial and convicted him of criminal negligence causing bodily harm, failure to remain at an accident, and obstruction of justice in June.
McMahon acquitted Ahmed of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon because he was left with reasonable doubt that Ahmed intended to deliberately hit Kastelewicz rather than just his bike.
“He not only severely injured the man, he left him on an abandoned street where he could have died,” said McMahon. “He was more concerned with his own liability than helping another who was severely injured.”
McMahon sentenced Ahmed to 12 months in jail for criminal negligence, nine months for failure to remain and three months for obstruction of justice, all to be served consecutively for a total of two years less a day.
