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Police: Boston men beat cabbies - and bit one - at Wonderland before being overwhelmed by taxi reinforcements

Hernandez (l) and JacquesHernandez (l) and Jacques.MBTA Transit Police report arresting two guys who didn't take kindly to news early this morning that a T worker wouldn't personally drive them back home and that a cab driver wouldn't take them to Blue Hill Avenue for a flat $20.

Ivan Hernandez, 22, of Dorchester, and Jevaun Jacques, 21, of Mattapan, face a variety of charges for a melee outside Wonderland station around 1:30 a.m. that police say started when they went up to a T employee, said they were T workers themselves and that he should drive them post haste to Blue Hill Avenue. When he refused, police say, they kicked his car. Then, police say:

Hernandez and Jacques then approached a cab driver parked within the cab stand at Wonderland station and requested to be driven to Blue Hill Avenue for "twenty dollars". The cab driver refused and explained the fare to Blue Hill Avenue would be 50 dollars. At this Jacques began to punch the cab driver about the head and face with a closed fist through the open window causing a laceration to the victim's forehead.

A fellow cab driver witnessing the brutal attack came to the victim's aid and attempted to pull Jacques away from him. As he was attempting to pull Jacques away from the victim/fellow cab driver Hernandez set upon him punching him in the head, it was at this time Jacques bit him on the hand puncturing the skin. Jacques and Hernandez then threw the 2nd victim to the ground and proceeded to punch and kick him. Several other cab drivers witnessing the assault came to his aid and were able to cease the assault until police arrived.

The duo are scheduled for arraignment in Chelsea District Court today on charges of assault and battery on a person over 60, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon - a shod foot - aggravated assault and battery with injuries and assault and battery. Jacques also faces a charge of assault and battery on a police officer for the kick police say he delivered to one of the arresting officers.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

Who is going to be the first shithead to sue the cab drivers and/or T employee?

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The should have used Uber

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At $2.80/mile, and about 12 miles, that's NOWHERE near $50. Why isn't hackney division investigating?

I'll tell you what $50 gets you. None of the cabbies wanted to take a black or latino guy to blue hill avenue late at night, so they told them it'd be some outrageous fare as a way to refuse them.

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Yeah, turns out they would've been right not wanting to take them, there's no excuse to attack cabbies, especially, you know, AFTER kicking an MBTA employee's car. And on what planet do you live on? Many of the cabbies in the Revere area are Haitian or Latino. Jesus.

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Wonderland's a little further from the city than the airport.

I know a lot of people who took cabs from the Boston University-Northeastern University area of the city to the airport and spent $50 on the cab ride. It seems reasonable to me.

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And gosh, officer, I have no idea why that black guy got so angry at me. Must be because he's black, not because of my racist treatment of him.

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So in other words Saks Fifth Avenue is being racist because they're pricing out everyone but rich whities, and it would be perfectly OK for a bunch of black gangbanger wannabes to trash the place and beat the crap out of everyone who happens to be working there?

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What about rich Asians, rich 'Hispanics', rich blacks, etc.? ALL Asians, Hispanics and blacks are poor? Boston is flooded with well off Asian, Latin American and gulf state Arabs. Saks only cares about the color of your money.

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and I got into a cab at the stand at Bromfield and Wash and the Hindu gentleman driving refused to take me to Decatur St in the Bunker Hill projects, was that racism?

Just wondering.

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Whether it's racism or not, it is illegal for a cabbie to refuse to take you to any particular neighborhood, or to charge you anything other than the fare on the meter.

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Do you spend much time around Wonderland? Would you want to drive someone to Blue Hill Ave that late without some decent compensation? And plus, these scumbags are just two of the many scumbags who hang out at Wonderland - especially near the bus terminal there. Have you ever taken a 455 at night? You don't lay your hands one someone: period.

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$2.80/mile, folks. Period. There's even a little device on the dash to tell you exactly how much the fare is going to be.

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Take the blue line to Wonderland and take it over there if you're so sure about this. Do you drive a cab? Did you realize that you need to pay tolls going into the city from Revere? Do you know exactly which part of the street they were going to? Again, this has been rehashed further down in this section. $50 might be a little much, but at least $40, no doubt. It costs me $10 to get from Beachmont to Broadway Revere. But continue to beat this drum, go ahead, it's working out so well...

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Actually, the replier wasn't disagreeing with you. If anything, he was supporting your argument by implying that people shouldn't ask a cab driver to take them somewhere for $20, but should instead pay the proper fare. You don't walk into a restaurant and ask if you can have the filet mignon for $20. You pay what the menu says you pay. Just saying...

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estimates it to be $42.77 ($49.19 if you include 15% tip).

I've used the site before and it's been accurate.

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Probably actually close to $50, 12 miles at the absolute least from Wonderland to Blue Hill Ave plus the $5.25 toll for cabs westbound through Ted Williams tunnel

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I show more than 14 miles from Wonderland to Blue Hill Ave in the center of Mattapan(where one of the alleged suspects is from). That's more than $40 not including tolls for the tunnel. I don't think it's unfair for a cabbie to say it will cost $50 and certainly doesn't warrant a hackney division investigation.

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BLACK! I know they do refer to each other as Ni**a but let me honest, Black on Black racism? PLEASE!

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internalized_racism

https://www.google.com/search?q=racism+black+on+black

SHOCKING. Did you even know that there's a thing called black supremacy? Step into Roxbury, Mattapan, Dorchester, or JP and you can witness it first-hand.

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It's nowhere near twenty dollars either. Taking a cab from downtown boston to Blue Hill Ave would run you $20 easy. These guys are, sadly, a perfect example of what MAKES people racist, especially middle-aged cab drivers who are almost certainly foreign-born and/or non-white themselves?

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Agreed. Race has nothing to do with this, considering every cab I have taken in either Revere or East Boston was driven by someone of African or Middle Eastern descent.

This has to do with two scummy guys not being able to handle that they missed the last train, and that they didn't have enough pocket change to pay for a cab. Call a friend, or don't get stuck with no money at Wonderland when you need to get back to Mattapan, bro. But hey, at least the cruiser ride to the Revere police station was free.

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Just the fact that they made a flat offer to the cabbie ticks me off. So--underpay the fare, no chance of a tip, and then the guy has to drive all the way the hell back to Revere? oh, and then beat the crap out of him. I rarely say this, but these guys are the definition of scumbags.

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Not to say that cab drivers AREN'T ever racist, not matter what their skin color or ethnic origin. But to chalk this incident up to racism is ridiculous--these guys are gross. $20...ugh.

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Plus the tolls back and forth?

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Drugs are bad, mmmkay?

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Guess I'm a racist.

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Having apparently made this judgment based on their mugshots and post-hoc evidence that they were criminals? Why, yes! Yes you are!

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wipe the tears of "White Guilt" from your eyes. Its not a good look!

These two look like punks, that not being racist. Just like i see white scum at south station every night.

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The cabbie was clearly racist, that's why he ended up on UH as a beaten up cabbie at wonderland t stop, not a dead cabbie on blue hill ave.

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Eh? I can't say for sure that the driver didn't try to price them out because of the destination and the time of night, but $50 isn't outrageous. I live 2 blocks off of Blue Hill Ave over across Franklin Park, and metered cab fare back from the airport for my lily-white self usually runs in the high 30's if there's any traffic or if the driver gets unlucky hitting red lights coming across Melinea Cass. Wonderland is about 4 miles further away from Boston than the airport. Blue Hill Ave is a big place--he could potentially have been talking about Blue Hill Ave down into Mattapan, which is another couple of miles. If I was driving a cab and had to round to the nearest $10 for a quote, I'd tell you either $40 or $50.

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First off, hackney division wouldn't investigate because its Revere, not Boston. I'm sure Revere Hackney would look at this and say the cabbie was justified. He didnt refuse them, just told them it was going to cost them. Outside of Boston, Cabbies are allowed to charge flat rates and not use a meter. Also, cabbies DO have a right to refuse fare if they think they will be unsafe. Safety always trumps everything else because cabbies are a prime target for attacks (lots of cash on board, a car, and no witnesses).

Secondly 50 bucks seems about right. Yeah the mileage may seem correct but its not 'as the bird flies'. Think of time waiting at stop lights and weaving around Dot and Roxbury to get to their location.

And to be honest, if these two hoods walked up to my cabbie asked to be taken to that area of town, I'd probably do the same thing. God only knows what would have happened if he did, considering what they did to him after. how do you know they wouldn't have done a 'chew and screw' or even worse?

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Mwahahahaha!

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$2.80 per mile (plus time stopped at red lights) is the Boston taxi fare. But Wonderland is in Revere.

I have no idea what the Revere taxi fare is (and of course Revere's website doesn't make it easy to find out). Anyone know?

Of course you can't beat someone up if you don't get what you want. But this incident does highlight two problems: the lack of late-night T or bus service (Phoenix and Pittsburgh put us to shame), and taxi fares which are about double what they should be (and most of the money goes to the medallion cartel, not the drivers).

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Have to call this out...

Do you really want to say Pittsburgh beats us out with late night transportation?

They have buses, and buses only running late. The city has a "subway" which is basically equivalent to 4 underground city stops and a few lines that run trolleys into suburbs that no one except businessmen on weekdays for a trip in and out of the city for work. And the transportation there costs as much or more than the T. They run one bus an hour late-night until ~2am (depending on what part of the city you are in). Buses in PGH are exact fare only, with no way to store value on a card. The buses don't run good routes, are being cut every year, and the payment scheme on those buses are ridiculous (they go by certain "zones", not just one flat bus fare).

Oh yeah, and closing time there is 4am. So buses running until 2 and closing time 2 hours later mimics the situation in Boston.

Sorry, but that statement was just a touch ridiculous.

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Hmm, I think Pittsburgh cut the late-night weekend trolley service since I was last there.

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And without arguing every little detail about Pittsburgh's transit system, I'll just say that a last bus at 1:56 AM is better than Boston's 12:45.

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waits for the last train, so de facto last bus time is around 1:10-1:40 depending on the night/station.

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A bus that leaves at some random time between 1 and 1:45 am is a pain in the neck if you need a bus at 1 am, and worthless if you need a bus after that (unless you can figure out if it's left yet, and have a backup plan).

It defeats the purpose of having scheduled service.

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It's a specific time listed on the bus schedule with a "w" to indicate it will wait for the last train. But if it's the last bus, you should still show up by the time listed.

It's helpful if you are on the last train and still need to catch the bus.

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It is random from the point of view of someone just riding the bus.

It would be even better for train passengers if the last trains ran on time.

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when taking the last bus. No different than going to the station for a bus scheduled for 1:30 but is late because of traffic.

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When I was living there, about ten years ago, they had a 24hr bus (61C) on the busiest route in the system. Many of the other routes ran until 2am or so.

Remember, Pittsburgh once had a world-class streetcar system. A lot in common with Boston, actually. They had hundreds of miles of tracks and 600 revenue vehicles available. They were the last major American city to begin tearing up the tracks and converting to buses, IIRC.

The bus system largely follows the old streetcar system but has been badly cut in the past few years. They are following that vicious cycle of fare hikes and service cuts which cause a loss in ridership and perpetuate the problem. Last time I visited my friends there they were contemplating yet another round of big cuts, about the same time we were. I think they had discontinued the 24 hour buses by then.

The subway system is largely from the 80s (though it has pieces that are over a century old) and was an attempt to revive the old streetcar network without putting tracks in the downtown streets again. They floated a proposal to put a tunnel out to Oakland in the 90s, but it never went anywhere. Has to get under some tough geography. But that is where the ridership is, the big universities, medical centers and such. It would be like connecting to BU, NU, BC, and all the hospitals in Longwood Medical Area with a single light rail line. But it never got built. Instead the trolley only reaches the southern suburbs. As a result, they have a heavy bus trunk line running from downtown to Oakland, it even gets some dedicated lanes through part of Oakland. They are also famous for introducing the first dedicated busways, mostly converted rail lines, starting back in the 70s -- those go to the outlying neighborhoods and suburbs though.

Also, they are finally introducing an RFID stored value card, and the zone system is relatively new, only has 2 zones, and the boundary is far outside the city. Travel within downtown is free. Their problem is an unwillingness at higher levels of government to fix the fundamental financial problems of the system (sound familiar?).

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I wouldn't disagree in some cases but the cabbie is right here.

I lived in both Revere Beach near Wonderland (Nahant Street) and Mattapan near Blue Hill Ave. (Caton St. off Riverside) there is no way that the ride would be even close to twenty dollars. I regularly took a can from downtown to the beach and that was close to 35 each time and when I'd take cabs to Mattapan (which I did rarely cause I was broke) it was a little less, maybe 30 (once I had a cabbie turn the meter off on his own since he was going that way anyways, and THAT was twenty). They may have had a chance I'd they offered thirty or more. The guy is going to lose out on fares if he takes them for that little.

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They were in Revere, not Boston. At best, the passengers have to cover the cost back to Revere, 24 miles, at worst, they don't have to take anyone beyond Revere.

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Is posting what you just posted, while in reality you would roll up your windows, lock the doors and speed away the moment you spot one of those fine young lads.

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Ah, I was wondering how in the world this post got so many comments. I'm black, I can spot racism - overt and covert - a mile away. You really stretched for this one, especially not even knowing the race of the cab driver.

Now, it could have been the fear of going to Blue Hill Ave. at night. I don't even venture out at night, and I live in the 'hood. And I love my fellow people of color.

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Race card. Good play, Sir.

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HAHAH fuck em charge em to the MAX. Clearly they have no business being part of a civilized society.

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Yes, but it's also idiots like you who enable those fine upstanding law-abiding fellas to use the "diz sheet is raaaaay-cyst" card.

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Imagine if the cabbie had told these gentlemen that his credit card machine wasn't working. UH would explode.

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What happened to the guy on the left's shirt?? What a bunch of stupid arrogant f#cks! Hope they get some serious time because our society doesnt need these type of animalistic morons on the loose.

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Royal Taxi mostly does point to point travel. Taking people to the grocery store and back round trip for 5 dollars. They will even wait for the person to finish shopping and a couple of the drivers will even help a disabled or elderly rider bring groceries into the apartment. All for a flat fee of 5 dollars.

From Revere to Logan is 30 dollars, not sure what a longer trip would be.

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Well I'm sure they were disappointed when they discovered that the Blue Line does not go to Blue Hill Avenue.

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