A Maryland cab driver may have been killed over a shorted seventy-five cents.
That’s according to court documents charging Rashad Terrell Slye with first-degree murder. Slye, 20, who appeared in court Monday afternoon, was ordered held pending a preliminary hearing in the case.
Prosecutors allege that Slye fatally shot cab driver Domingo Ezirike on Saturday.
Charging documents state that Slye and another person, identified as Witness 2, called P.G. Cab Company around 2:50 a.m. Saturday to ask for a ride from Morgan Boulevard metro station in Landover, Md., to Ponds Street NE in the District. Erizike was sent to pick them up, and he asked for $20 upfront in order to transport the two into the city.
Slye’s companion stated that, Slye and Erizike began to argue after Slye asked the cab driver to turn on the heat and radio and Erizike refused. When the cab arrived at the 4300 block of Ponds Street, Erizike asked for an additional $7.75 fare. When Slye and his companion only paid $7, Erizike pressed for the final 75 cents, the witness said. Erizike unlocked the doors to the cab and the witness left, but Slye continued to argue with the driver, charging documents allege.
Another witness said they were on Ponds Street when they heard a man arguing with Erizike. According to charging documents:
“[The witness] advised that it heard a male voice state ‘Give me my $20 dollars back.’ in an aggressive tone, as if the person in the backseat was arguing with the driver. It then heard the male voice demand to be let out of the cab. It was at this time, [the witness] observed a black male emerge from the rear driver’s seat door, armed with a silver hand gun.”
That witness goes on to state that the armed man ordered Erizike to get out of the cab, then searched Erizike’s clothes and glove compartment for money. The witness said the armed man then ordered the cab driver back into the vehicle, shot him once and then fled the scene.
Court documents state Erizike called 911 at 3:27 a.m. He was pronounced dead on the scene by paramedics. His wallet was recovered in the 1500 block of Anacostia Avenue, behind the building where Slye allegedly fled after the shooting.
In court Monday afternoon, Slye’s attorney, Elizabeth A. Mullin, cast doubt upon the statements made by both witnesses. “Witness 1 and 2 appear to have a substantial motive to fabricate and point fingers,” she said.
Mullin noted that Witness 2’s phone had been used to call the cab, that they were in the car with Slye prior to the crime and that they had been observed by a Metropolitan Police Department detective in the back of the cab at a police checkpoint on Quarles Street shortly before the shooting occurred.
Mullin also pointed out that Slye does not have a prior criminal record and “has strong ties to his community.”
But Judge Karen Howze determined that the charging documents provide “enough evidence to suggest [Slye] is a danger.”
Slye’s preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 18 at 9:30 a.m., in front of Judge Gerald Fisher.
Read the charging documents below.
