Remember William Bryan Jennings wild ride? Last December, after Morgan Stanley's Christmas party, the firm's former head of bond underwriting hailed a cab in Midtown and directed the driver to his home in Darien, Conn. When they arrived, cabbie Mohamed Ammar quoted a price that Mr. Jennings found excessive, and in the fracas that ensued, was alleged to have stabbed Mr. Ammar in the hand with a pen knife.
That story emerged in March, when Mr. Jennings—who no longer works at Morgan Stanley, according to Bloomberg—was charged with assault and intimidation by bigotry.
Accounts varied. Mr. Ammar said that Mr. Jennings refused to pay the fare of $204 dollars, told the cabbie “I’m going to kill you. You should go back to your country,” and stabbed him in the hand with a 2 1/2 inch blade during a roadside altercation. Mr. Jennings said that the driver demanded $294, then started driving the banker back to New York City when he refused to pay.
All charges, including a larceny charge over the unpaid fare, will be dropped on Monday, according to Reuters:
Charges against a high-ranking Morgan Stanley banker accused of stabbing a New York City cab driver in a dispute over a long-distance fare are set to be dismissed, Connecticut police and the cabbie's attorney said on Friday.
The banker, William Bryan Jennings, of Darien, Connecticut, is due in court on Monday in Connecticut Superior Court in Stamford, about 40 miles ( 64 kilometers) northeast of New York. In March, he pleaded not guilty to charges of intimidation as a hate crime, theft and assault against cab driver Mohamed Ammar of Queens.
That news came as a surprise to Mr. Ammar's attorneys which said in a statement to Darien Patch that they had received indication that the trial was moving forward and that Mr. Ammar would be called to testify one week before prosecutors decided to drop the case.
"Mr. Ammar is outraged by the prosecutor's decision and continues to demand justice," the statement read. "He was anxiously awaiting trial this month and had no indication that the prosecutor would take such a drastic turn nearly a year after this crime was committed and within days of the trial."
Mr. Jennings' attorney had filed a motion for the case to be dismissed in March, arguing that Mr. Ammar had made contradictory statements to police.