MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Talk about a crummy fare.
A cab driver told police he had to escape from his taxi early Sunday along southbound I-5 in Mountlake Terrace after his passenger short-changed him and then held a knife to his throat.
Police arrested a 52-year-old Des Moines man for investigation of attempted robbery. A judge set bail at $50,000 in Everett District Court on Monday.
The cab driver told Mountlake Terrace police that he picked up a skinny man wearing a jeans jacket and blue jeans in Mukilteo early Sunday morning.
There was trouble from the start, according to a police report filed with the court.
The man told the driver he wanted a ride to Des Moines in King County and gave him $11.
As they were heading south on I-5, the driver told his passenger that wasn’t enough money.
The man in the backseat came up with another $2.25 in quarters.
When the cab driver explained a trip of that distance could cost $50, the passenger uttered an expletive.
The cab driver said his passenger then reached around the front of him with his right arm and pressed something “cold and sharp” against his throat. The man in the back seat then grabbed the back of the cab drivers head with his left hand, according to court records.
The cab driver told police he begged with the man not to hurt him.
While pleading with the man, the driver was able to slow down his cab enough to jump out and escape.
The cab rolled slowly forward and stopped when it ran into a plastic construction pylon on the right shoulder, just a few feet north of the 236th Street SW overpass.
The suspect later was arrested in the 22600 block of Highway 99, according to police records.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
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