Morgan Stanley Banker, Charged With Hate Crime In Cabbie Stabbing

[Snakeseye0]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...l?ref=new-york
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"An investment banker was charged with a hate crime Wednesday for allegedly stabbing a cab driver of Middle-Eastern descent after a dispute over the fare from Manhattan back to the banker's multimillion dollar home in Darien, Connecticut.


William Bryan Jennings turned himself in to police Wednesday for the December 22 incident. Charged with "second-degree assault, theft of services and second-degree intimidation based on race or bigotry" for allegedly calling the cabbie racial slurs, The Stamford Advocate reports, he was released on $9,500 bond and is expected in court on March 7.

Jennings' lawyer, Gene Riccio, claims his client was a "victim of abduction."


"We have a serious disagreement with the facts as portrayed by the cab driver," Riccio said, and called it "mind-boggling" that the driver hasn't been charged.


From The New York Post:

The driver had demanded an "exorbitant" $300, refusing Jennings' "reasonable" offer of $160, Riccio said.
But Darien Detective Cmdr. Ronald Bussell said Jennings became enraged and shouted the slurs when the cabby insisted he pay the $203 fare they had agreed on. When Jennings refused, the hack drove to nearby Post Road to find a cop, Bussell said.
"As he's driving down there, the victim says, the passenger tries to stab him with a knife. He puts up his hands and gets stabbed in the hand," said Bussell, adding the driver got six stitches.
Jennings then fled from the cab.
47-year-old Jennings, who works for Morgan Stanley, has different account of that night. After the driver demanded $294, Riccio tells The Darien Times, the hack said he was taking him back to Manhattan and began to speed, running red lights and stop signs. Fearing for his life, Bryan pulled out a small pen knife, which the cabbie tried to grab, stabbing himself in the hand.

Jennings also denies directing ethnically derogatory language at the driver."
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Thoughts?

[ati87]

The bankers story is hardley convincing.....

If you fear for your live when you are in a car the last thing you would do is attack the bloody driver.........unless you have a death wish. And I also heard the banker was drunk so that doesn't help his case.

So my guess is that the taxi driver is right

[Acewipe]

Even if he used "ethnically derogatory language" it should not be a hate crime. Hate crimes are only supposed to be used where the victim is attacked because of race, gender, religion, etc- which does not seem to be the case here- looks like they had a disagreement that escalated. It seems to me that the prosecutor just wanted to get in the news.

[Roose]

A banker sociopath? Never! Cabby must have not been a fan of Huey Lewis and the News.

The whole hate crime thing is ridiculous, though.

[Tychus]

If you demand to exit the cab and the driver doesn't allow this, they are then guilty of false imprisonment. If the cab continues transporting the passenger after the demand to exit has been made, it's also kidnapping.

The proper solution is to record details of the initial incident (failure to pay for services rendered) and report it to the police.

[ati87]

Pff this is my problem with people defending the guy on what he said and how it isn't a hate crime.

It is the same as a bully saying that he isn't bullying a kid but just playing
it is the same as 12 old geezers talking about women and what they are allowed to do

It isn't your place to say that he or she shouldn't feel offended/hurt or that he or she should be doing XXX

[Tychus]

Pff this is my problem with people defending the guy on what he said and how it isn't a hate crime.

It is the same as a bully saying that he isn't bullying a kid but just playing
it is the same as 12 old geezers talking about women and what they are allowed to do

It isn't your place to say that he or she shouldn't feel offended/hurt or that he or she should be doing XXX

Whatever word the guy allegedly used doesn't make it a hate crime. Whether the cabbie was offended or not doesn't establish it as a hate crime.

Hate crimes are a serious thing, and losely throwing the term around is irresponsible and belies the real damage hate crimes cause society.

[Snakeseye0]

If you demand to exit the cab and the driver doesn't allow this, they are then guilty of false imprisonment. If the cab continues transporting the passenger after the demand to exit has been made, it's also kidnapping.

The proper solution is to record details of the initial incident (failure to pay for services rendered) and report it to the police.

So you would say the same thing when someone robs a convenient store?

[Roose]

Pff this is my problem with people defending the guy on what he said and how it isn't a hate crime.

It isn't your place to say that he or she shouldn't feel offended/hurt or that he or she should be doing XXX

Pulling a South Park reference here, but aren't all crimes hate crimes? Race should never factor in. Malicious is malicious.

[Tychus]

So you would say the same thing when someone robs a convenient store?

Depends on the specifics, but generally the grounds for false imprisonment can be met in a store robbery.

[Olianda]

Hate Crime: A crime motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence.

Unless he stabbed him because he was <insert race here> then it's not a Hate Crime.*

[Lothaeryn]

The hate crime accusation is a bit over the top, but the underlying issue is the disagreement over the fee. Jennings tried to stab the guy over $300, which he makes in about 30 minutes of his average work day. While the cabbie didn't have the right to keep him in the cab to talk to a cop, he is in the right about being assaulted for virtually nothing to the customer.

Its just a mess from what I see of it, both of them were wrong, but the cabbie does have a better case.