A player has been dropped from a Rugby Canada high-performance men’s training program after videos and news stories about a violent carjacking of a taxi in Colwood came to light this week.
The taxi driver suffered significant injuries in the April 15 carjacking on Sooke Road, near Metchosin Road.
The player, who is not being named because he was 18 when he was charged, had been at a gathering in a private home with a number of other members of Pacific Pride Academy, said a statement from Rugby Canada, which said it became aware of the gathering on April 18.
“In the face of incomplete information, we initially placed four players under suspension while we investigated further,” the organization said in a statement.
“We now consider this a matter for the justice system,” it said, adding two players remain suspended while Rugby Canada’s discipline and complaints is underway.
Rugby Canada said it would fully co-operate with the legal process.
A video from the taxi shows a shirtless male throwing himself at the windshield of the moving taxi and breaking it before rolling onto the road. A second video taken by a witness shows the individual yanking the driver out of the vehicle and pushing him away.
The suspect then drives off.
Bluebird Taxi general manager Michael Westeroth said the taxi driver remains off work after sustaining injuries including a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder, and undergoing surgery last week.
He said the driver told him he was knocked unconscious in the attack. “He remembers getting hauled out of the taxi,” Westeroth said. “The next thing he remembers is waking up in the ambulance.”
That sort of violent incident connected to a taxi is unusual in the Victoria area, he said.
Charges against the suspect, believed by West Shore RCMP to have been under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident, include assault, assault causing bodily harm, assaulting a police officer, mischief to property under $5,000 and theft of a motor vehicle.
Police have asked that the occupants of a white vehicle seen driving past the taxi in both videos come forward, as well as anyone else who saw what happened.
Call West Shore RCMP at 250-474-2264.
