If your cabbie is unable to bring you to a store selling cheap cigarettes, you should still pay him the $12.40 for the ride. That’s not what one man thought, say police in Syracuse, N.Y. His cabbie failed him during a quest for cheap cigarettes, and he reportedly refused to pay up — even though he was carrying $5,000 in cash.

The Post-Standard says the 68-year-old man asked a cab driver to bring him to three stores on Monday. Each time, says the arrest report, he’d come back to the cab empty-handed, claiming the cigarettes were too expensive. After the third store, the cabbie asked for the fare and the man refused.

Yes, arrest report — he was charged with theft of services, a misdemeanor, when he told the cabbie to call the police over the disputed $12.40 fare. When police arrived, the man became uncooperative and still wouldn’t pay.

He was placed in handcuffs and searched, which is when the cops discovered the $5K in cash he was carrying, says the arrest report. He declined to tell the police why he was so flush with cash, or why he was being so dang stingy.

*Thanks for the tip, Rowell!

Man stiffs cabbie of $12.40 fare, but had $5,000 in his pockets, Syracuse police say [The Post-Standard]

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