Nice hustle to get the story, Scoop.

I thought that Amanda Knox and Rafaelle Sollecito were still in an Italian prison.

"Lady Friend," or "Special Lady"?

My god the writing is dry and without wit.

Hilarious story, though. So many shenanigans that ensue on New Year's!

@4, I was expecting much, much more. So much more. It's like no one's even trying at the Stranger to keep us entertained.

Wait, he was two blocks away and decided to dump them? Why not just drive the extra two blocks and get them out hassle free? The sex couldn't possibly get much further along in that span of time.

(And for the record, I'm of the opinion that covert backseat hand jobs are much hotter anyway.)

She's not his special lady, she's his fucking lady friend. He's just helping her conceive, man!

Yeah, that's nice and all, but what we really want to know is whether the cab driver spoke a word of English.

@10: A nice little quantum meruit argument there, but I think that all gets flushed down the toilet when one of the parties commits a felony.

now i miss Police Beat even more. nice scoop though, intern.

@10,

They also made an implied contract to behave themselves in his place of business. He's within his rights to kick them out and collect on the services he had already provided to them.

@10... the meter only charged to their current location, so it was -- in a way -- complete performance, not part performance: the matter-of-fact contract was to pay for distance/time. i doubt the cabbie was asking for meter plus what it would have cost for the remaining two blocks. in addition, the contract does not terminate when the cabbie kicks them out, the contract may terminate or it may complete at that point. furthermore, as suggested above, the contract probably is understood to include provisions for illegal behavior. as such, the contract defines how to handle those situations, as opposed to terminating.

@5: why do you need the story to be any more amusing? It's already plenty fun. :)

@15: I think it's pretty likely that this is more like the sex-in-the-backseat scene in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, a la "I love you so much it's retarded," noisy kissing, feet flying around...people who threaten their cabbies aren't generally subtle in their sexual advances.

@5 - I totally agree. Thank god this writer isn't getting paid...not that many at the Stranger should, but this one (@16) made what could have been an awesome story completely boring dribble. I've had more entertaining things come out of my wang.

@15. my analysis does not fail. first off, i was talking about the situation as we know it, not a hypothetical situation where the passengers are kicked out as the flag dropped for no reason but are still charged. i would image the implied contract coverts both events where a ride is mostly completed and events where no ride at all takes place. i am not certain of what happens there, but whatever the companies policy is -- if it is followed -- implies the contact is still in force. if that means the cab driver does not charge, that does not mean the contract was "terminated." it means the situation is such that payment will not be requested. or maybe they do request payment under those circumstances which still do not match what actually happened.

even so, if i am wrong in my analysis here or above, in my earlier post i still said the contract may terminate, which really covers all my bases. in short, you are incorrect, my analysis does not fail.

as a side note, i'm pretty sure having sex in a car in public is illegal under many circumstances.

I am now too distracted by michaelp's funtime wang to comment on the boringness of this story.

@15,

It would be pretty difficult to "kick off" members of the Mile High Club without killing them, but there's a reason why people try to be secretive when having sex on a plane.

And, yes, it's illegal to have sex in a public place. A taxicab is public.

Well, the couple kinda screwed themselves when they got violent and pulled a knife, didn't they?

Otherwise, I'm with the folks who say the cabbie got what he deserved for kicking them out.

My friends and I did something similar on Halloween a few years back. Being a bit drunk, we hailed a cab from EMP to head up to Capitol Hill. The cab driver got into an accident under the monorail tracks, and then expected us to wait around with him until the police arrived. Not interested in waiting who knows how long for the police to show up so he could document things for his company (small fender bender, no injuries or anything) we told him where to go and decided to walk over to a bus stop instead.

Is it just me, or was the part where they attacked the cabbie kind of hot?

@23. you are incorrect: paying to be someplace -- specifically, a taxicab -- does not make that place no longer "public" such that indecency laws no longer apply. also, i'm not sure that payment is made for the right to exclude others, or if so why that would change what laws normally apply to people in vehicles when the vehicle is in public. creative try at an explanation, though, i guess.

okay, i am guessing you are a troll now, since your logic includes so many inaccuracies. but i'll humour you a little longer for the fun of it.

what i said remains true. it is not that you are paying for a hotel room that makes it private, it is that it is a hotel room, and that you have permission (by paying) to use it for a hotel room's intended purpose(s). a cab and a room are different in many ways, despite the fact that you can pay to use either one.

i'm not sure what your point is anymore. you recognize that cabs and movie theatres are different, but not that cabs and motel rooms are? you still think a person or two cannot be indecent in a taxicab? what is it? laws are diverse, and different laws apply differently under different circumstances. what you do in a car you own in your closed garage will be evaluated differently than what you do in a cab on the street, for instance, and those two situations are likely far more similar than comparing what goes on in a hotel room with what transpires in a cab. one can still image, however, that one could be indecent in both a cab and in a hotel room; just because they are different doesn't mean that a broad law cannot apply to both. for instance, having sex in front of an open window of a first floor hotel room next to a busy sidewalk could in some cases result in charges being filed.

side note: i would also submit that a hotel room is not a place open to every member of the public -- it is open by invitation only -- though in that way it is somewhat similar to a taxicab.

your theory that since you paid for the right to exclude others a taxicab is not open to the public and therefore one cannot be indecent when inside is seriously flawed.

1. you did not pay for the right to exclude others in a cab
2. payment does not always change whether a place is open to the public or not
3. a cab is not open to the public per se, not that that affects indecency laws
4. your payment does agree to abide by the contract with the cab company
5. you can be indecent in a place not open to the public
6. you can be indecent in a place where you have effectively excluded others from entry
7. you can be indecent in any vehicle in public under certain circumstances

like i said, your idea and support is so twisted, i am guessing you are a troll now. on the other hand, you are not insulting, so maybe not. i'm a little impressed by the creativity of your argument and how you twisted reality in so many ways to match it. if you had to debate the losing side in this case, you did a pretty good job with the spin. and if you are a troll, you are wrong in so many ways without resorting to obviously stupid attacks that it's still interesting.

but, since you are not a registered user, i think i'm going to be done with this. thanks for the debate! it was fun.... a little.

umm...

http://seattlecrime.com/2010/03/15/more-…

D Rock, you beat me to it!