Investment banker W. Bryan Jennings slept off a night of drinking in the back of a cab and then slashed the driver when they got to Connecticut.
“W. Bryan Jennings is a jerk.”
A mild-mannered, hardworking New York City cabby lamented to The Post yesterday that he was insulted, demeaned and threatened by a boozy bigwig who refused to pay him, screaming: “Go back to your own country . . . I’m going to kill you.”
Mohamed Ammar said investment banker W. Bryan Jennings — a $2-million-a-year fat cat for Morgan Stanley — went from being a sweet gentleman he picked up in Midtown to a surly, knife-wielding “drunk” who stiffed him on the $204 fare when they got to Jennings’ Darien, Conn., home.
William Bryan Jennings, 47, of Darien, Conn., is charged with intimidation by race or bigotry, as well as assault and larceny for allegedly not paying the cab fare, police told YellowCabNYC.
“I said, ‘You have to pay me. It’s the law,’ ” Ammar recalled at his Queens home yesterday, where he lives with his wife and three children. “He says, ‘What law? You should go back to your own f–king country.’
“I say, ‘This is my f–king country, excuse my language. I’m an American citizen!’ ” said the driver, who is originally from Egypt.
“That’s when he pulled out the penknife . . . He leaned forward and yelled, ‘I’m gonna kill you, motherf–ker!” Ammar said.
“I saw his hand balled up into a fist and I thought he was going to punch me,” the cabby said.
“I put my hand out to protect, and that is when I saw the penknife. He went for my neck first but ended up slashing my hand many times as I was fighting him off . . . My hand was bleeding pretty bad” as Jennings fled on foot, Ammar said.
“He was drunk and out of control, and he could have killed me. That was one of the scariest moments of my life.”
Ammar needed six stitches to close his wounds.
Jennings was charged Wednesday with assault, larceny and committing a hate crime for the Dec. 22 attack. He was released on bail.
“I just don’t feel safe anymore,” Ammar said. “This has been a problem for all cabdrivers. You have no control over who you pick up. I regret letting him into my cab.”
Ammar’s frightening account came as Morgan Stanley placed Jennings on indefinite leave from a managing-director job that paid an estimated $2 million last year.
“This is just terrible. This makes [Morgan Stanley] look bad,” a top executive said.
Ammar says the incident started out innocently. He picked Jennings up outside of the Ink48 hotel at West 48th Street and 10th Avenue.
They exchanged pleasantries. “When he got into the cab, I took out the book that shows fares for out-of-state trips,” he said, explaining that a fare of $204 is suggested.
“I showed this to him and I said, ‘Before we leave, we have to agree on the price of the trip.’ He says, ‘Oh, I’ve got plenty of cash. I’ll pay you a lot.’
“He says this while waving around some bills. He was waving around a lot of money. I tell him I don’t need a lot of money, just the fare and that would be fine.
“I tell him that I should collect the money before we go on our way. But he says, ‘Don’t worry about it. You will get plenty of money’ ” after the men agreed to a $204 flat fare, Ammar said. “I go along with this because $204 really is a lot of money to me.”
Ammar said Jennings slept during the 43-mile trip to Darien, where they arrived after midnight.
When Ammar woke Jennings, “He was groggy and angry and he was talking very loudly,” the cabby said.
“We drove up his driveway . . . He slides open the door and asks, ‘How much do I owe you?’ I tell him $204. He starts yelling at me.”
“Are you crazy?” Jennings screamed, recalled the driver. “That’s too much. I’m already home. I don’t feel like paying!”
Jennings then said, “I’ll give you $50,” Ammar recalled.
“I tell him, ‘Sir, we are going to drive back into town so we can find the closest police station . . . Would you close the door?’ He refused. He sat in the seat as I drove with the door open.” Then the alleged attack took place.
Jennings allegedly told Ammar “the cops wouldn’t do anything to him because he pays $10,000 in taxes,” court records state.
“He got out of the car and he walked into the park. I didn’t follow him . . . I didn’t want to imagine what he would do in an empty park at night,” said Ammar.
Police couldn’t find Jennings — but the banker contacted them and turned himself in when local media reported the attack.
“He looked like every other normal person on the street. I can’t believe people are capable of such things,” Ammar said.
Jennings admitted to cops he knocked back “two or three Coors Lights” at a Morgan Stanley charity auction he ran on the afternoon of Dec. 21, and later drank “several more beers” at the bank’s holiday party at the hotel. But he claimed he wasn’t “highly intoxicated,” court records state.
When a limo failed to come, he hailed Ammar’s cab.
Jennings said they never discussed a specific fare.
Jennings’ lawyer, Eugene Riccio, said Ammar actually “abducted” the exec from the driveway of his pricey home after refusing his offer to pay a “reasonable” $160 instead.
Cab driver Mohamed Ammar who was attacked.
Additional reporting by Mark DeCambre, Laurel Babcock and Dan Mangan
This is why we should be allowed to collect fares over a specified amount in advance!
This whole thing could have been avoided!
you will be rich from sueing. this is what so great about this country,
Do the NYC Taxi Commission rules allow cabbies to lock passengers into the backseat and then cart them away from their homes without permission? And ignore pleas from the passengers to be set free? If so then the cabbie should not have to wear an orange jumpsuit. But if cabbies are also licensed to kidnap passengers to demand payment then the cabbie should win his lawsuit.
Ignorance. “…go back to your country…” really??? Mr. Jennings obviously forgets that AMERICAN’S come from many different cultures, religions, ethnicities. Seems that a few drinks made him forget that Article six of our Constitution protects anyone who wishes to be a citizen of this country as it has for the past 236 years. Shame on you Mr. Jennings. I’ve worked with thousands of cab drivers in the great City of New York and 99% are good, hard working people, working to create the same opportunity your fore fathers created for you Mr. Jennings…to create a future for themselves and their families in a place where freedom and rights of citizenship should be enjoyed by all. Having been as successful as you have been, you should be demonstrating the same American pragmatism of those that came before you. Money doesn’t make you a good person Mr. Jennings.
mr.Jennings retaliated for months of rip offs on the rate 4 deal let this be a lesson to those drivers that think to mess around with the every day passengers
I suggest Ammar to sue this person. Ask for millions from this jerk, I am sure after court adjustments made Ammar will receive a big lump of money.
Wow whos number ONE with another way of taxing NYers to DEATH THANKS PHUCKING BLOOMBAG 1. New York, NY
The Big Apple has a worm in it. Heavy traffic, kamikaze taxis and commercial vehicles, pedi-cabs, pedestrians, one-way-streets, cars looking for impossible-to-find street parking. It all makes for a chaotic car scene and one in which the police relish getting out their ticket books. It also has hundreds of red-light cameras to augment the police efforts. Drive carefully, and avoid the hefty tickets
PS They make almost as much on RED LITE Cams than Cops writing tickets…AUTO GUILTY 100% ….Unless you can prove you moved for EMERGENCY VEH….lol….PSS HOW many Tickets Percentage wise do WE Get…..
This guy Mr Jennings is a disgrace to us americans and Ammar should sue him for most of what he has got. If amar had died this would have been a bad day to remember for us cabby drivers. John Stipplenipple
DISGRACE!!! Kick his ass back into gear!
Another article on Brian Jennings. He faces 11 years jail term, if convicted.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/03/19/william-bryan-jennings-mohamed-helmy-ammar-morgan-stanley_n_1364515.html
Read other comments on that site.
Am not sure why so many comments on this incident are biased in favor of the cabbie. Are people aware of the fact that he kidnapped Jennings in Jennings driveway and refused to let him exit the vehicle? That puts Jennings in self defense mode and, frankly, he is allowed (as anyone else would have) to defend himself. The cabbie is not allowed to go anywhere with Jennings in that cab once Jennings has requested to be let out. Shame on the driver. There is also now documented facts that the driver neglected to input his $204 fare into his meter thereby breaking TLC regulations for a trip from NYC to Connecticut. I don’t blame Jennings. This cabbie obviously tried to rip him off and he fought back. Driver got what he deserved.
JERK LIKE JENNINGS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PUNISHED HARD BY COURT……..I GUESS PEOPLE LIKE HIM ARE NOT SATISFIED BY EATING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM THE INVESTORS THOSE WHO TRUST THEM AND PUT THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY IN THEIR HANDS………..PEOPLE LIKE HIM ARE ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BAD ECONOMY THAT COUNTRY IS GOING THROUGH…………THEY CAN SPEND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN STRIPE CLUB AND EXOTIC PARTY BUT DONT FEEL LIKE PAYING TO CAB DRIVER THOSE WHO ARE WORKING HARD AND HELPING THEM REACH THEIR HOME AND OFFICES SAFELY
Hey Mr. Anonymous, grow a pair and at least demonstrate some basis for your comments. Jennings had absolutely nothing to do with the financial meltdown. He helps companies raise capital for their needs and, without that capital, hundreds of companies he has helped would not have been able to grow their businesses. You, and others like you who don’t even know Jennings, are the hate crime offenders. Not him. He defended himself from a kidnapper. Explain why he should have needed to do that…
Rate 4 means charge’m 4 time s more for bringing destruction and poverty around the world ,fo0r creating slavery ,for destroying nations and enviroment.You Indians knocked down british empire, have 30 children per household , work for 25 cents an hour let a whole world starve to death, now its your time to own this planet!!!
cab driver are not human they have no heart no feeling and no respect why is that ? i am sure this cab driver took him there didnt force him in his car took him his place and get to hear all that crap and all most got killed ..i know its not law to drive off any body but what would you do when u call cops they come they say what can we do person all ready run away they tell us caby jst go away.. that how help full they are comon ppl we pay tax we work hard all day and night .. why cant u treat us right.. why cuz we drive taxi .. or we are from differnt background..