Passenger Stabs, Robs Cab Driver

A 40-year-old cab driver was in serious condition at Mercy Hospital Sunday after a robber stabbed him repeatedly in an East San Diego alley at about 2 a.m.

Steven A. Turner, a driver-owner for Orange Cab, was stabbed in the chest, abdomen, neck and hands, police said, as he tried to defend himself from a young man who attacked him and fled with his money. Police spokesman Bill Robinson estimated the amount at less than $100, and noted that a sign in the cab says the driver does not carry more than $5 in change.

As his assailant ran away, Turner radioed the cab company’s dispatcher for aid.

“He said he was bleeding and needed an ambulance, and he said there was somebody who had witnessed it and was chasing the man,” said Marty Ogle, the dispatcher on duty at the time. “He sounded like he was out of breath, and tired. His breathing was labored, and I could tell it was pretty bad.”

Ogle said the original call for a cab came from Gate 1 at the Naval Training Center, near Lytton Street and Barnett Avenue. Cab company president Michael Spadacini speculated that, because cabbies generally feel “safer with the military than with the ordinary private citizen,” that address may have lulled the driver into a false sense of security.

Police said Turner drove the robber-to-be, described as about 25 years old and dressed casually in a sweat shirt and shorts, to an address in the 4100 block of Highland Avenue. Once there, the man asked to be driven into an alley, where Turner was stabbed and robbed.

“Alleys are dangerous,” Spadacini said. “It’s one of our unwritten rules. We do not drive in alleys, no matter who they are.”