Allegheny County police say a routine cab ride to Pittsburgh International Airport turned into a criminal case when a passenger allegedly pulled a large kitchen knife on the driver and demanded to be taken straight to the terminal. The driver flagged down a police officer at the airport departure curb, and officers later recovered a knife from the backseat of the taxi.
What police say
According to WTAE, the ride started at a downtown Pittsburgh hotel. The passenger’s child was also in the vehicle.
Police told the station that the taxi driver identified the passenger to the responding officer as Mya Owens. Investigators say they reviewed video recorded inside the cab that appears to show the confrontation, and they recovered a large kitchen knife from the backseat.
Owens now faces multiple charges, including kidnapping, terroristic threats and corruption of minors, according to investigators. How those counts are formally graded will play out in court, but the allegations alone are serious enough to keep the case firmly on prosecutors’ radar.
Charges and booking
Police say Owens was booked into the Allegheny County Jail pending arraignment. The Allegheny County Jail website lists contact numbers and visitation details for family members and attorneys trying to locate detainees, including those awaiting their first court appearance.
Legal context
Under Pennsylvania law, kidnapping is classified as a felony of the first degree, putting it among the most serious charges on the books. Terroristic threats and corruption of minors carry their own penalties and grading rules under state law.
For the fine print, the kidnapping statute is laid out in 18 Pa.C.S. § 2901, while terroristic threats are defined in 18 Pa.C.S. § 2706. The state’s Chapter 63 provisions on corruption of minors spell out how that charge is structured. Together, those statutes frame how prosecutors may choose to grade the alleged offenses as the case moves toward arraignment.
What’s next
Allegheny County police say the investigation is ongoing and detectives are continuing to review evidence tied to the reported incident. Court filings and formal statements will likely shed more light on what happened inside that cab on the way from downtown to the airport. We will update this report as court filings and official statements become available.
