Cabbie Dies in Shooting

Victim was brother of Sept. 11 hate crime murder

By J.K. Dineen
The San Francisco Examiner

A week after Sept. 11, cab driver Sukhpal Singh was devastated to learn a gunman killed his brother in Arizona, mistaking the turban-wearing Sikh for a follower of Osama bin Laden.

On Sunday, Aug. 4 just before 4 a.m., Singh was fatally shot in the head while driving west on 24th Street in the Mission in what police say could be random violence. He had just turned 52 on Saturday.

At Mission and 24th, Singh’s taxi crashed into a power pole and two parked cars, one of which became engulfed in flames. The power pole toppled, and 167 households in the area were left without power the next morning. The outage initially affected 3,600 residents, but most had their power back by 6 a.m.

“It sounded like an enormous accident involving explosions, gunshots and the whooshing sound of fire,” said Chris McCole, 23, who lives in an apartment near the accident. “The flames looked about 30 feet high.”

McCole woke his roommate, 23-year-old Graham Hill.

“We freaked,” said Hill. “There was a burning ball of car in front of the house.”

Homicide Inspector Joseph Toomey said neighbors reported hearing gunshots four blocks east at 24th and Folsom, and the cab was spotted “speeding up 24th.”

It is not clear if Singh was shot at Folsom Street and somehow managed to drive four blocks, or if he was shot closer to Mission Street. Police are unsure if one of Singh’s passengers or if someone on the street shot the Indian cabbie.

“There is a good chance this guy was just driving in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Toomey.

Singh started driving for the company a year ago, said United Cab manager Ted Thrani. Singh, a native of Punjab, India, was an independent contractor for the company and lived in Daly City, said Thrani. He said Singh had three children and a wife he supported in India and was a U.S. citizen.

“I know that he was a nice, easygoing, quiet guy who minded his own business. I know that yesterday was his 52nd birthday. The rest is for the police to find out,” said Thrani.

His slain brother, Balbir Singh, drove a cab in San Francisco until a few years ago, when he bought a gas station and 7-Eleven in Mesa, Ariz.

Like many Indian-born Sikhs in America, the Singh brothers had sent much of their money to improve living conditions in their native Indian village, said Manjit Singh (no relation), executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force (SMART).

SMART on Monday called on police and the FBI to investigate Singh’s murder as a possible hate crime. Singh said the call came after “disturbing” news reports that quoted a San Francisco police spokesman as saying, “We don’t believe this is a hate crime at all.”

“Until an investigation is done, it would be premature in this stage for ruling out a hate crime,” Singh said.

Toomey said there are no suspects in the case.

Staff writer Andrew Chow contributed to this report.

E-mail: jdineen@sfexaminer.com.