Teen pleads guilty in taxicab incident

ALL CHARGES have been withdrawn against two of the three juveniles who were accused of assaulting a cabbie and his passenger in Center City in January, and the third teen has been given probation after pleading guilty to a single count of simple assault.

Assistant District Attorney Paul Goldman said Monday that after a "very thorough investigation" it was determined that two of the teens who were charged had not participated in the assault.

The third teen hit the passenger with an open hand through the window of the cab after the two exchanged words, he said. The cabdriver was assaulted by a teen who remains unidentified.

According to Goldman, the young man who pleaded guilty and two other kids were at a bus stop at 15th and Chestnut streets about 8:30 p.m. Jan. 28 when the cab stopped at the intersection. The passenger was Brian Goldman, a University of Pennsylvania senior, who is not related to the prosecutor. Through an open window of the cab, one of the teens said something in a joking manner to Goldman, like "Can we get in with you?"

Goldman, the passenger, responded in a more "serious" tone, something to the effect of "Well, that's why I'm in the cab and you're not in the cab," said the prosecutor.

The 17-year-old who was charged felt insulted and reached in the cab and smacked Goldman's cheek, prosecutors said.

"He understands what he did was wrong," prosecutor Paul Goldman said of the teen. "It was an emotional reaction to what he felt was a derogatory comment."

After being slapped, Brian Goldman got out of the cab, and the driver, feeling that his passenger had been assaulted, went to the trunk to get a tire iron. The driver was struck in the right eye from behind by an unidentified member of a group of people who had gathered at the scene, according to prosecutors.

Earlier assertions from the cabdriver that the teens had shouted racial epithets during the attack were never substantiated.

Judge Kevin Dougherty sentenced the 17-year-old to probation, gave him a 7 p.m. curfew and ordered drug testing every other week. He also ordered the boy, who has repeatedly skipped or been late to school, to attend classes and remain on home monitoring.

Dougherty also called the boy's mother to the stand. She said her son had told her he didn't do it, despite his willingness to plead guilty to a charge of simple assault. Dougherty had the boy look his mother in the eyes in front of the court and admit to her that he was responsible.

"I'm a liar," the boy said to his mother. "It makes me feel bad."