Hoffman Estates man gets probation for attacking cabbie
A Hoffman Estates man involved in an altercation last December that left a taxi driver with a broken jaw and teeth pleaded guilty to aggravated battery.
In exchange for Richard Olson’s guilty plea to the class 3 felony, a Cook County judge sentenced the 23-year-old to 24 months probation and 30 days of community service and ordered Olson to submit to random drug tests.
During a hearing in the Rolling Meadows courthouse, the judge also ordered Olson to submit to a drug and alcohol evaluation and follow any recommendations, pay $589 in fines and have no contact with the victim. Lastly, the judge ordered Olson to pay the driver the $74 fare which Olson and his companions failed to pay.
The victim picked up Olson and four companions at a Schaumburg nightspot and drove them to a Hoffman Estates home, authorities said. Olson and the others fled the cab and did not pay the fare, nor did they pay the required $50 cleanup fee after one of the female passengers vomited in the cab, prosecutors said.
The driver called police, who arrived and began searching for the passengers. In the meantime, authorities said, Olson returned to the cab where he engaged in a verbal and physical altercation with the cabdriver.
Prosecutors at the time of Olson’s arrest said he struck the driver in the face with his hands and feet, causing injuries that required the victim to undergo surgery at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates.