Chicago Man Claims Cab Driver Pepper-Sprayed Him For Paying With Credit Card

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Jan 26, 2012 7:00PM

A Chicago man says a cab driver threatened he and his friends with a bat, then pepper sprayed him after they told him they wanted to pay with a credit card. Bryan Doherty and his two friends grabbed a Flash Cab in Lincoln Park around 3 a.m. Sunday morning. When he told the driver they had no cash, the cabbie allegedly drove to a dark area, then got out of the cab with a small bat. ABC7 writes:

"I said, 'hey, you know, calm down, we'll take you or take us to an ATM," said Doherty. "Said take us there and we'll pay you cash with no problem with that. At that point he put the mini-bat away. I thought it was over and the next thing I know he had a can of pepper spray in front of my face."

Huffington Post tracked down a similar Yelp review on Flash Cab's site that they assume belongs to the same "Bryan D." with a $6.45 fare. It certainly sounds like it. The Yelp review states:

The driver said he does not take credit card. We told the driver he is required to take credit card and if he cant he should take us to an ATM. At this point the driver became erratic and insisted that we were trying to screw him out of money. The driver the sped down a street to a dark corner. The driver then jumped out and open the passenger door and was standing over me with a mini bat. At this point the other passengers called 911. I told the driver to chill out and take us to an ATM we will pay him and be on our way. The driver then put the bat away took out a can of pepper spray and sprayed me in the face. Both other passengers were out of the cab at this point. The cab driver then jumped back into the cab and took off.

HuffPo pointed out several other Yelp reviews complaining about being treated rudely for using a credit card, but we all know that's not just Flash Cab, right? Lots of cab drivers react negatively to people using credit cards in their cabs. ABC7 says it hasn't heard back from the cab company yet, but we imagine that interview would yield a different story of a cab driver fearing some schmucks were trying to screw him.

Yes, cabs are required by law to accept credit cards, but some cab drivers might claim their machine is broken or they might just sigh and roll their eyes. Why? Because it costs money to run a credit card. That's why cab drivers have asked for a $1.50 "convenience fee" for credit card transactions and a $50 fee for fraudulent credit card use.