Date of Occurrence: 11/04/07
Time of Occurrence: 9:30PM
Location of Occurrence: Suncoast Casino to RIO Casino
Comments:
My wife and I entered a non-descriptive taxi (we can only remember the word TAXI on the cab. The doorman at the Suncoast had told us that a cab could cost as much as $40 to go to the RIO. Because Debbie Reynolds was appearing in the showroom that night, there were not enough cabs for all the people who wanted to take a taxi. This cab pulled up on the side and we went into it without a doorman’s help. The driver who had an accent (maybe arab or spanish) was whispering into a cell phone for the entire trip. It had taken us about 10 minutes to get to the Suncoast from the strip, so I was surprised that the trip was passing 25 minutes and the meter climbed past $70. We were on a High speed Highway and moving very fast. We seemed to be west of the Strip but further west then the Hwy US15 that paralells the Strip. Plus we never passed the RIO, I became very concerned when in the distance I could see the South Point Casino that I knew was south of the strip as we were passing on the far left. I asked the driver where was he going that he passed the RIO? He said that the exit was closed and he was taken another way. We proceeded to go south and an alarming speed. My wife got upset when she saw a sign that said Los Angeles straight ahead. Being a State Investigator for 23 years, I told her to get on the cell phone and call the police. When the driver heard the word police, he made an immediate U-turn and was taking in broken english that he would shut off the meter which was at about $76. The driver took us to the RIO and I handed him $40 with a two dollar tip. He held on to the money and told me the fare was $110. I told he that I did not want to argue with him and that I felt that something was very wrong here. If he did not want to accept the $42 then we will call the police and if they say I have to pay this amount, I will. The driver would not let go of the money and told me to get out of the cab(my wife had already run out of the cab) and close the door. I let go of the money, closed the door and he sped off at a high rate of speed. We filed a report with the Casino Host at the Rio. The driver who was thin, looked arab or mexican had a taxi license number on the dashboard of his cab that read: #576 in a black marker handwritten style. My wife took his license plate number that was: 103 TYX. We feel that he was up to no good. We feared for our lives. It appeared to us that he was taking us to the desert.
