COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A Ravenswood couple hailed a taxi home from the Near North Side neighborhood only to attack the driver to try to steal his cab, according to court documents.
Sarah Solma, 22, and Brian Mosansky, 24, spent a night in jail after allegedly attacking a cabbie who tracked them down after the two ran from his taxi without paying their fare.
Cabbie Rafiu Ayantoye, a 50-year-old father of six who lives in Rogers Park, picked the couple up shortly before midnight on Sunday near the corner of State and Hubbard streets.
They were arguing with each other, said Ayantoye, and possibly drunk. When he pulled up to their apartment in the 4000 block of North Ashland Avenue, the couple started arguing with him about the $21 fare.
Solma jumped out of the cab and ran west on Irving Park Road, according to court records. For a moment, it looked like Mosansky was going to pay. But then he too ran from the taxi.
Ayantoye got out of his running taxi and found the couple in the driveway of a nearby Popeye's Chicken. There, Mosansky allegedly attacked the driver, punching him and putting him in a headlock.
Solma took aim and swung her purse at the driver before jumping back in his cab, according to court records. But she didn't get far.
Equipped with a smart key device, the cab automatically idled and stopped in the 4000 block of North Paulina Street.
Both were quickly apprehended. Solma was charged with vehicular hijacking and aggravated battery, and Mosansky was charged with aggravated battery.
She was ordered held by a Cook County judge Tuesday on $75,000 bond, and Mosansky's bond was set at $25,000.
