NEWS REPORTING OF WHAT HAPPENED OK OK

Ok, so I normally never post in a the discussion board.
Main reason is I don't get involved with news, etc..
This is something I see as completely wrong though that has happened to someone I know and have spent some time with and his family. I'll give some backround to what I know about him and what happened.

He is an Egyptian immigrant who moved here(U.S) with his family on a VISA. They have been living here for a few years and most of them work for the taxi company "Yellow Cab". My mother met them shortly after starting to work as a taxi driver. The Egyptian man who was arrested is about 60 years old. He was recently arrested and is being charged for neglectful manslaughter.

About six months ago, he was given a fare to pick someone up and drop them off. He drives a taxi cab (bigger van) that allows for people in wheelchairs to get in the car. The man that he is charged for manslaughtering was a guy in a wheelchair. As a taxi driver you take someone where they need to go, and drop them off. You only wait around if they ask you to. If they don't, you leave and hopefully try and get another fare. He dropped this man off at his house, who then later comes to find out died that night because his wife wasn't home to let him in. His wife didn't come home for 11 hours since he had been dropped off and when she got home she found him dead outside, next to the front door. Because of this, they are charging the taxi driver for manslaughter and set his bail to $100,000 because someone he dropped off died because no one was there to let him in the house. Is this right or wrong?

Is this neglectful manslaughter? If so from the taxi driver? The wife that wasn't home to let her husband in for 11 hours? The man who died waiting outside because he didn't have keys to his own house? Anyone at fault? Everyone in his family is completely shocked and has no clue what to do about it. Let me know what you think please and why.

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Taxi driver drops off someone at their house, and the taxi driver leaves after doing so like any other fare. The guy later dies from dehydration after waiting for someone to let him into his house. His wife didn't come home for 11 hours while he was sitting outside in 100 degree F weather. When she got there, she found him dead (he had died from dehydration).

So, wife calls police. Police trace it back to who dropped him off there and "left him there". They make an arrest. Now trying to charge the taxi driver for manslaughter, as he is "at fault". The guy that died was in a wheelchair, and most likely an older guy.

Is this anyone's fault? Should the taxi driver be arrested and charged for manslaughter?

Wow, well.. This is quite an unfortunate, odd accident. I think that's just about all it is. I do not believe it's the taxi driver's job to sit there and watch the person walk inside of their house unless asked. I find the man who died mostly at fault; even being in a wheelchair, couldn't he have tried to go to a neighbor's or some other place he could stay for a bit, assuming he couldn't contact his wife? I guess I can't say for sure without knowing the severity of the man's condition, but I find it strange that a man would get to the point of dying without trying to do anything about it. He just sat outside his house?

Assuming the man was in no condition to help himself, then the wife was partially at fault, but it's not like she planned his death, she was away. We don't know how oblivious the wife was to her husband, we don't know if she talked to him on the phone, etc. but no matter what it was, I don't think she should have been charged, either.

This was just a bit of a freak accident, nobody should be punished for it, in my opinion.

Obviously this isn't the whole situation.

1. Simply being in a wheelchair won't mean you will die if left unattended for 11 hours.
2. What prevented the man from going to another house or calling for help.
3. When does the duty of care for a taxi driver end.

From what we are told, there is no way the taxi drive could be at fault.

Link to the news story I found, since Panda didn't feel like including a source. It seems like the man was not only physically disabled, but also mentally disabled, which hindered his ability to ask for help. The driver's liability is entirely dependent on the company's drop off policy.

\o/ Thanks for finding it. I tried finding a news story or something but just couldnt.
Also, from what I was told the lawyer from ABC news looked through the drop off policy, and found nothing saying that the driver is responsible of the person they transport and drop off. Also for some reason the ABC news lawyer is defending him in court from what I was told, and was for some reason going to try and have the wife arrested as well since she knew her husbands conditions and what he was doing that day. (I'm not 100% sure though of it) There should have been no real reason for her to be gone that long

I think no one should be charged with the mans death really, it was an accidental death that no one is really responsible for.

ImmortalPig, the guy in the wheelchair was dropped off at his house after going to the doctors or coming home from the hospital.

Note that taxi drivers are not told what type of medical condition these people are in, this would be considered something called a medical voucher (the insurance of the person usually pays the taxi company to drive them around if needed to appointments or from hospitals). They could be coming from a hospital, doctors office, etc or be going there and the insurance will pay for the taxi fee.


I do not know the "full story" as the police would see it or how the wife describes it, but from what I know and partially assume. I'm thinking the wife called the police after she found him dead, and then told them where she was at, and why he was outside (medical visit, was getting dropped off). A lot of these people get picked up and dropped off by many taxi drivers, so this could have literally happened to any of the drivers. All the police would have to do is figure out which taxi company, and the wife should know this. Then they would need to get probably a warrant or something to go through the taxi log books to see who accepted that voucher, etc. It basically led back to him as being the driver, so they are going to try and charge him.

I also have concerns about it, some of them were stated.

1. Why did the guy not have keys to his own house?
2. Why was his wife away knowing he would be coming home from a doctors appointment, hospital, or w/e?
3. Why did the guy not try to ask for help or something like that from a neighbor?
4. Why/how did he die? He died because of dehydration, I asked. This makes sense because 6 months ago it was summer time (June), and it gets hot (100-110F avg)

I'm assuming this guy was older, and without a cellphone.

How can anyone make a judgement on this, you have told us like almost nothing. I'm sure there is way way way more to this story.

There really isn't nothing else to be added that I could add to the story.

Taxi driver drops off someone at their house, and the taxi driver leaves after doing so like any other fare. The guy later dies from dehydration after waiting for someone to let him into his house. His wife didn't come home for 11 hours while he was sitting outside in 100 degree F weather. When she got there, she found him dead (he had died from dehydration).

So, wife calls police. Police trace it back to who dropped him off there and "left him there". They make an arrest. Now trying to charge the taxi driver for manslaughter, as he is "at fault".
The guy that died was in a wheelchair, and most likely an older guy.

To me this just sounds like extremely poor planning on the family's part.

If someone is coming home from a hospital from a surgery or whatever you should probably have someone at the house. Given the fact that he couldn't get inside the door or call for help he must have been pretty weak.

If the older guy didn't say anything, or asked help from the taximan why is he the one to blame? He was just doing his job, you can't expect everyone to go out of their way especially when his job relies on getting as many clients as possible so he can feed his family.

This is a strange case, but really I think no one should be charged here.

DruggedPanda that is really messed up. I think that its no ones fault, the old man was weak and died from being left alone obviously he was in a very poor condition. I would not blame the taxi driver because he was just doing his job, i would not blame the wife because she was unaware of the situation. i dont think they should put the taxi driver in jail or something like that because that would be wrong.