Cabby’s Killing of Fare Called Self-Defense

A cabdriver who kept a handgun on his front seat used it to kill a robber who was pistol-whipping him early Tuesday in Encino, Los Angeles police said.

Because he acted in self-defense, the Valley Cab Co. driver, LaVerne Verhulst, 40, probably will not be charged, even with the misdemeanor of carrying a concealed weapon, police and prosecutors said.

The wounded man, identified by police as Kevin Michael Atkinson, 22, of Van Nuys, ran from the cab and fell dead in bushes less than a block from the shooting in the 3600 block of Caribeth Drive. The shooting occurred at 5:08 a.m., police said.

Lt. William J. Gaida said Verhulst was questioned by investigators, who determined that Atkinson, a former Valley Cab Co. driver, was shot in self-defense.

Verhulst was not arrested for weapons possession after investigators consulted a deputy district attorney, who noted that a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, ruling on a 1981 Municipal Court conviction, said cab drivers can keep guns in their vehicles in much the same way that shop owners can keep loaded guns in their stores.

Verhulst declined to comment.

Most Los Angeles cab companies prohibit drivers from carrying firearms, but a spokesman for Van Nuys-based Valley Cab Co. would not say if that company has such a policy.

Verhulst picked up Atkinson, another man and a woman at Lanark Street and Sepulveda Boulevard in Sepulveda, Detective Bob Horowitz said. The couple left the cab a few blocks away, and Atkinson asked Verhulst to drive him to a Caribeth Drive address, Horowitz said.

Horowitz said that, when the cab arrived at the address, Atkinson grabbed Verhulst around the neck and said, “This is a holdup. Give me all the money or I’ll kill you.”

Verhulst reached back behind his head, felt a gun and pulled away when Atkinson began striking him with the pistol, Horowitz said.

The cab driver slumped down, reached for a .22-caliber automatic pistol he kept on the front seat, turned and fired the fatal shot, Horowitz said.