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If you're going to beat up your cabbie over a fare, you might want to make sure not to leave any ID cards behind

Arlington Police report arresting a pair of alleged knuckleheads they say pummeled a cab driver when he insisted they pay their fare after a ride from Alewife station late Saturday.

Christopher LaFrance, 25, of Arlington, and Jacob Shaps, 24, of Boston, were arrested on charges of assault and battery, unarmed robbery and intimidation of a witness after police tracked down LaFrance's residence based on the ID cards he left behind in the cab's back seat, police say.

According to police, the cab driver picked the duo up at Alewife around 11:30 p.m. and drove them to Arlington, telling them the ride would be about $20.

When they got to Lowell Street and Park Avenue Extension, about 3 1/2 miles from the station, police say, one of the two paid with a credit card - but only for $2.

When the driver told the two men that they still owed him money, they began to argue. When the driver threatened to call the police, one of the men allegedly started punching the driver. The driver then reached for his cell phone, but the suspect allegedly grabbed it and threw it out the window of the cab onto the pavement.

The driver declined medical attention, police say.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

starts to bring me around to the Will LaTulippe perspective, sometimes.

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the perspective gleaned from growing up on the mean streets of Vermont?Kind of like The Wire,except all white people and one tenth the violence?

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Not the Shap-est knives in the draw?

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Ok, punching is bad. But,

1) How do you pay less than the full fare on a credit card? Every time I've used a card, anywhere, the business puts the amount into the machine before I get involved.

2) $20 for 3 1/2 miles, which takes less than 10 minutes to drive? That's nuts.

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Driver also told them the ride would be $20 to start. Maybe there is more to this, and also why he declined medical attention.

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It's nuts that the regulated fare is so high.

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