Cab Firm Gives Police Tip on Woman Driver’s Attacker

An anonymous phone tip was received this weekend by Coast Cab after area cab drivers launched a campaign to track down the person who attacked one of the company’s drivers July 29, leaving her for dead.

The phone tip came after cabbies from Coast Cab and Orange Cab distributed unsigned leaflets telling local lawbreakers either to come forward with the name of a suspect or be turned over to the police for their illegal operations. The flyers were posted Thursday in the downtown area.

Jeff Hano, general manager of Coast Cab, said he turned over the caller’s information to San Diego Police Monday.

Police Lt. Doug Price said the information pertained to the shooting of Sharyn Kamrath, who was dumped from her cab and left for dead on a La Jolla roadside after being robbed July 29. No details will be released until further investigation, Price said.

“This (the single phone tip) doesn’t satisfy me,” Hano said, adding that drivers have vowed to start taking down the names and addresses of persons engaged in suspected illegal activities and turn them in to the police.

Police and cab drivers are “cooperating, but we both don’t know anything yet,” Hano said.

Kamrath, paralyzed from the neck down, is listed in serious condition at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. Hospital officials said Kamrath’s vital signs are improving and that she was able to eat Monday for the first time since the attack.

Her co-workers are starting a fund to help pay for her therapy once her condition stabilizes, Hano said.