An 18-year-old man allegedly threw bleach at a taxi cab driver to avoid paying a $175 ride to Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood this week, officials said.
Oliver Dickens, of Carpentersville, was arrested Friday and charged with aggravated battery of a taxi driver, theft of labor and criminal damage to property, according to police.
Prosecutors alleged Dickens hired the cab driver Thursday from an Elgin cab company to drive him to the South Shore neighborhood.
Dickens became upset when he learned his fare was $175 and, instead of paying the tab, threw bleach in the cabbie’s face, stole his tablet and ran, prosecutors said.
Court documents show the cab driver, 34, of northwest suburban Dundee, suffered "burning and irritation" in his eyes and skin, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The incident reportedly occurred in the 7400 block of South Euclid Avenue.
It was not clear where exactly the driver picked Dickens up, but a drive from Carpentersville to the South Shore neighborhood is just over 50 miles.
Dickens was ordered held on $125,000 bond Saturday.
