Memorial walk and vigil for slain cab driver draws crowd

Around 100 people turned out on Thursday evening in London for a memorial walk and vigil for slain cab driver Vijay Bhatia.

Holding flickering candles with cold fingers, the procession made its way south from the parking lot along Wonderland Road South. Rain poured down as loved ones and supporters reached the Mac’s Milk store where Bhatia was brutally assaulted by a customer.

Among those who addressed the crowd were Deputy Mayor Paul Hubert and London Taxi Association spokesperson Roger Caranci; a family friend expressed thanks on behalf of Bhatia’s wife, who was unable to speak.

Loved ones comforted Neelam Bhatia as she knelt sobbing at the place in the middle of the parking lot where her husband was killed. After she was led away, members of the crowd added candles and flowers to the memorial, which was later moved to the side of the convenience store.

“He was really a thoughtful person. He was the one who would plan all these family trips for our family and his family, and he always went the extra mile to do something for everybody,” she said.

Mel Mapp wondered if he’d met Bhatia once, but was shaken regardless upon hearing of the cab driver’s death.

“It rattles you. Here’s a man trying to make a living, and he goes just like that — his life taken just like that… in such a brutal fashion that I don’t think anyone will even comprehend this happening. But it did.”

London Police say Bhatia picked up two customers in the early morning hours last Saturday. Upon arriving at the Mac’s Milk parking lot at 925 Wonderland Rd. S., one of those customers brutally assaulted Bhatia. He was pronounced dead at hospital.

Cody Perkin, 23, from London, is charged with second-degree murder in a case that has shocked the London community.

But for some, tonight’s memorial walk helped ease the sadness.

“It makes me feel better,” said Rob Turner, a local resident who doesn’t know the Bhatia family, but felt moved to show solidarity.