Morgan Stanley Exec Who "Accidentally" Stabbed Cab Driver After Difference Of Opinion Re: Fare Gets Off (Update)
Remember William Bryan Jennings? To recap, he's the Morgan Stanley executive who last December had a cab take him home to Darien, Connecticut from Manhattan and, according to the driver, refused to pay the $200 fare and instead began threatening the guy with racial slurs before intentionally stabbing his hand with a pen knife. According to WBJ's lawyer, there were no threats or slurs and while the stabbing did happen, it was by accident and Jennings only pulled out the knife he had on him because he was "fearful for his safety" and "did not intend to hurt" the driver. The two parted ways around midnight, at which time Jennings went to bed and the cabbie called the police, who had trouble identifying WBJ until they got a lucky break with video footage from the deli on 10th Avenue he asked the driver to stop at for snacks on the way to CT. Anyway, Jennings, who turned himself in two weeks after the incident following a family vacation in Florida and was later placed on leave from Morgan Stanley, was set to appear in court on Monday but then this happened:
Connecticut prosecutors will not pursue charges against a top Morgan Stanley banker accused of stabbing a cabby in a drunken, racist rage over a fare from Manhattan, the cabby’s lawyer said yesterday. The decision to let W. Bryan Jennings off the hook has left the cabby “outraged,” his lawyer said. Jennings, from the ritzy Gold Coast town of Darien, had originally been charged with assault, theft of service and intimidation based on race or bigotry after the December 2011 incident. But Hassan Ahmad, the lawyer for cabby Mohamed Ammar, said Stamford prosecutors have told him they’re dropping the case...Jennings’ lawyer would not comment, and the State’s Attorney’s Office in Stamford could not be reached.
No word on whether or not Jennings' string of good luck will continue with getting his job back at the House of Gorman.
Update: According to the driver's lawyer, this thing is still on (“All I’m saying is we’re showing up,” he told Bloomberg earlier today. “We have a court date Monday, and we’re going to be there.)
Charges Dropped Against Banker Accused Of Stabbing Cabby [NYP]
Earlier: Morgan Stanley Exec “Accidentally” Stabs Cab Driver After Difference Of Opinion Re: Fare