As he found himself staring at a gun pointed right at him, Rashid Ahmad said he thought his life was over.
“The guy came out, just like his plain clothes…looks like street guy. He just came out like that, he pull out the gun,” Ahmad told CTV News Wednesday. “When he did point to me, I shout like ‘Hey man, get down he's going to shoot us!’”
Now, the taxi driver shot at by a plainclothes cop in White Rock last week wants to know why he was targeted – but police aren’t giving many answers.
Ahmad said he had been dispatched to a local address at around noon to pick up a man and woman who asked to go to a CIBC bank on Jan. 29
“The guy was assisting the lady because she was old,” he said. “They came to my car, the guy opened the back door…he was saying to her ‘mom.’”
When Ahmad turned on to Finlay Street from Russell Avenue near Peace Arch Hospital, he said an unmarked car passed him quickly.
“The same car suddenly stopped, no flashing, nothing, no police lights, nothing,” he said.
Ahmad said he had to hit the brakes – and that’s when the plainclothes cop emerged, pulling out his gun.
“We tried ducking down, I think meanwhile because car was in drive, I lifted up the foot from the brake too, maybe the car moved,” he said. “We were ducking down and then I heard the shot, and then the smashing all around. I was just trying to save myself to duck down.”
In a blur, Ahmad said police pulled him through the smashed window of the car and on the ground before putting him in handcuffs.
He said he was later told he was free to go, and is now trying to figure out why the ordeal happened in the first place.
In a release last Wednesday, the RCMP said plainclothes officers were investigating a so-called “crack shack” in the area where the shooting happened.
They said an officer shot at what they described as a “suspect vehicle,” but did not speak on camera at the time – or today.
Police declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation, only saying they’re trying to determine what involvement all occupants of the taxi played in the drug investigation and subsequent shooting incident.
“We would want to know what were the reasons, why did they do what they did? We want those answers,” said Ahmad’s lawyer, Deepak Gautam. "The police have not been forthcoming, neither with my client nor with us.”
Ahmad, a father of five, said he hasn’t been back to work yet and is still dealing with fallout from the terrifying incident.
“I’m still feeling like I’m mentally disturbed, because the scene comes front of mind,” he said. “Like I’m very close to the death.”
Gautam said the taxi driver is keeping his “options open” when it comes to whether or not he’ll pursue legal action against the RCMP.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Maria Weisgarber
