Darien police have charged a man accused of hate crimes and stabbing a taxi driver over a $200 fare.
Darien police received a 911 call around midnight on Dec. 22 from a cab driver who reported that a customer he drove from Manhattan to Darien stabbed him in the hand, police said.
The taxi driver said he and a man police later identified as William Jennings, had agreed before leaving Manhattan that Jennings would pay $204 for the ride.
The Advocate of Stamford reports that Jennings is a 47-year-old Morgan Stanley executive.
When the cab driver arrived at Jennings’ house, Jennings refused to pay and they got into an argument, the cab driver told police.
Jennings’attorney, Eugene Riccio, told the Connecticut Post that the cab driver actually demanded $300 when he arrived at the house, Jennings refused to pay and the driver said he would bring Jennings back to Manhattan.
The taxi driver told police he threatened to call police, feared for his safety, put the car in reverse, pulled out of the driveway and called 911 but the service was poor and it did not go through.
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The taxi driver told police he drove in to the center of Darien to find a police officer and Jennings began stabbing him through the open partition that divided the front and rear of the taxi’s interior with a pen knife.
At this point, police said, the taxi driver was able to pull over and call 911 and required stitches in his hand.
Police said Jennings did not call police until two weeks later.
"In our view, it was Mr. Jennings who was the subject of an abduction, and should be the victim in this case, not the defendant. He was the subject of an abduction," Riccio told the Post.
On Friday, police charged Jennings on a warrant. The charges include second-degree assault, sixth-degree theft of services/larceny and intimidation by bias or bigotry for statements Jennings is accused of making toward the taxi driver.
Riccio told the Post that Jennings denied making threats or using derogatory language.
Jennings posted a $9,500 bond and he was released. He is due in Stamford Superior Court on March 9.
NBC Connecticut has left a message for Riccio.
