This week, an executive with Morgan Stanley was charged with assault, theft of services and second-degree intimidation based on race or bigotry after allegedly stabbing a cab driver in a dispute of a fare. Cab driver Mohamed Ammar described the incident in detail to the Post, telling them that William Bryan Jennings, Morgan Stanley's co-head of North American fixed-income capital markets, screamed and threatened him when he refused to pay the full fare: "You should go back to your own f--king country...I’m gonna kill you, motherf--ker!”
On Wednesday night, a reportedly intoxicated Jennings hailed a cab in Manhattan and instructed Ammar to take him on a 43-mile trip to his $3.6 million home in Darien, Connecticut: “When he got into the cab, I took out the book that shows fares for out-of-state trips,” Ammar explained, saying a fare of $204 was 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.’ Ammar said Jennings waved around money in response: "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." He claims the two men agreed on the $204 flat fare.
Jennings slept during the ride, and when they got there, “he was groggy and angry and he was talking very loudly.” Jennings refused to pay the fare, and allegedly screamed: “Are you crazy? That’s too much. I’m already home. I don’t feel like paying!” Ammar said Jennings then offered to give him $50; Ammar said he wanted to find a police officer. Jennings then allegedly started cursing and shouting the racial slurs at Ammar—then he allegedly pulled out the penknife: “I saw his hand balled up into a fist and I thought he was going to punch me. 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.” Jennings then allegedly fled on foot.
Jennings's attorney, Eugene Riccio, said the cabdriver "attempted to collect an exorbitant sum of money from my client for the cab ride...My client categorically denies that he stabbed this individual." Riccio said Ammar refused Jennings offer to pay a “reasonable” $160 fare, and added that Jennings "denies that he said any racially offensive statements to the cabdriver." Previously, the lawyer told the Stamford Advocate that Ammar was running stop signs and red lights, and Jennings, fearing for his safety, took out the folding knife he uses for fishing trips.
Either way, Morgan Stanley has placed Jennings, who makes $2 million a year, on a leave of absence. And Ammar needed six stitches to close his wound: “He was drunk and out of control, and he could have killed me. That was one of the scariest moments of my life.”
