UTW
needs
Your
Donation

Zareh Soghikian (2nd from l.) reacts to election returns with other opponents of Proposition M of Nov. 2000 at a victory party in the Mission District. Others in the photo are Dave Barlow (far l.), Denise LaPointe and Jean-Michel Normand. (Photo: Martin Kazinski)
In Memoriam
Zareh Soghikian
1929-2005

Long-time Yellow Cab driver and UTW Executive Board member Zareh Soghikian was killed in his taxi along with a passenger, Duke University student Tyler Brown, the night of Oct. 9 at Broadway and Webster when the cab was struck by a pickup truck driven by Kevin McGuinness of San Francisco. Two other passengers, Tyler’s brother Adrian and a friend, were injured in the collision.

McGuinness, who has at least three DUI convictions on his record, was allegedly fleeing from a hit-and-run accident moments before. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, manslaughter and drunken driving.

Zareh and Tyler were far different in age and background but much alike in their concern for others. Zareh worked with UTW to make cab driving a better job. Tyler had recently returned from helping tsunami victims in Indonesia.

The following is a slightly edited version of a tribute to Zareh and Tyler given by UTW Executive Board member and former Chair Ruach Graffis on Oct. 11 in public comment at the Taxi Commission:

Thank you very much. We’re all hearing about 20,000 people that were killed in the earthquake in India and Pakistan and the hundreds of people that were killed in Guatemala, and in the face of that, having two people get killed in a taxicab in San Francisco sounds like almost a minor thing. But it’s not. This is a microcosm of the macrocosm. Each one of these people mattered desperately and was beloved by a number of people.

Zareh was a member of the United Taxicab Workers. He was on our E-Board I think for 10 years. He was a fighter. He grew up in Egypt, although he was Armenian by background.
He’d spent 20 years at least in this town driving a cab. That whole time he wasn’t just driving a cab to make money for himself but he was helping the fight for dignity and respect on the job. Most recently he was working with the United Taxicab Workers to change the limo laws and bring some justice for cab drivers with the problem of illegal limos picking up on the streets of San Francisco.

We were all working together to get health care for all cab drivers. Zareh knew how important that was because while he had health care, he knew that 60 to 80 percent of us do not.
Zareh was 75 years old. His 76th birthday would have been today. We are mourning him, instead of celebrating his birthday. He was still driving a cab because that’s where he made his money. Because there’s no disability and there’s no retirement in this industry. That was going to be our next fight. It will still be our next fight.

Why was he killed? He was killed for one of the main reasons why cab drivers drive cabs. I’m not speaking so much tonight to you as the commission or even to cab drivers. I am speaking to the public out there watching this. We are cab drivers. We have made a promise to you that when you want to go out and drink and party and have fun, we will be your safe and sober designated driver. And yet a drunk killed his designated driver. What a tragedy. What a double tragedy. We will miss you, Zareh.