Patrick bin Laden?

Sometimes cab drivers deserve a good beating. I don’t know if Jan Radecki- the Buffalo cab driver who was driving without a license after multiple DWI convictions when he was allegedly beaten by Blackhawks star Patrick Kane and his cousin, James- falls in the category of drivers who need beatings, but I do know that the local media here in Chicago has covered this story more aggressively than any major international news event in recent memory. We’re at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and yet, you’d hardly know it from looking at the Chicago Tribune which ran the story front page above the fold on both the front and sports sections yesterday, with a huge blow up of Kane’s slightly sinister looking mug shot. You would think that young Kane had murdered someone, or at the very least had caused grave bodily injury. I've had my nose broken before (during gym class in 8th grade football) and I've gotten into a tussle with a cab driver, so I'm something of an authority on this topic.

There is no excuse for taking shots at anyone, other than self-defense, and the Kane boys obviously behaved boorishly no matter what the situation was. The truth, however, is that only three people know exactly what happened- the Kane boys and Jan Radecki- and it’s entirely possible that all three of them were intoxicated when the incident occurred. It seems clear that some kind of altercation occurred- but was it a savage beating or was it a scuffle? All we know for sure is that Radecki suffered a broken nose, but did not require hospitalization and seemed to be O.K. when he appeared on television. He obviously had a strong incentive to exaggerate the extent of the “beating” when he learned that Kane was a multimillionaire. His lawyer has now stated that the whole matter has been blown out of proportion, so maybe Radecki has already received or agreed upon the payoff that he wanted all along.

We don’t know Patrick Kane’s side of the story, but we do know that at least he had the good sense not to drive drunk- good sense that has apparently eluded Jan Radecki on multiple occasions. Let me return to my opening thesis that sometimes cab drivers deserve a beating. Once, while in traveling in China’s western Xinjiang region, I nearly got into a wrestling match with a cab driver myself, over what I later realized was over little more than $1. I had negotiated a flat price of 40 Yuan for a ride back to my hotel but when we arrived he tried to charge me 50, and when I balked, he peeled out and sped away from the hotel with me still in the back seat, cursing at me in Mandarin. He owed me 10 Yuan, and, on principal, I wanted it back, especially since giving substantial tips for cab rides is not customary in China.

I didn’t know what to do so I flung open one of the doors while he was driving and that spooked him, so he pulled back in front of the hotel and started yelling at me to get out of the cab from behind a protective cage that separated the front seats from the back ones. By then, I was furious and wanted my change, so I screamed back at him to give me the money and started violently rattling the cage-like barrier that separated us. The driver then began trying to poke me with a sharp pointer through the cage’s openings, and eventually I grabbed it and engaged in a tug of war with him for it. Soon enough someone from the hotel came out and took my side in the argument and got my money back for me.

But I must admit- if that barrier had not been there, I might have choked this guy in the heat of the dispute. True, I didn’t actually punch him, and I’m not a millionaire hockey player, but nonetheless, I can appreciate the fact that sometimes cab drivers are crooks, drunks, or even worse.

Let's face it- Jan Radecki is the luckiest cab driver in Buffalo. He had been operating illegally- no doubt struggling to make ends meet, and now he'll probably be able to retire with his payout. I'd take a broken nose for that. All of this doesn’t mean that Pat Kane is an angel or that he needs our sympathy. He had a few too many drinks and made some bad decisions- something pretty common for 20 year olds. He has already no doubt cost himself a fortune in lost endorsements, and he and his family have already suffered from the shame of this incident, but, from all accounts, Patrick is a good kid and deserves a chance at redemption. Maybe Jan Radecki does too, but you won’t find me getting in his cab anytime soon.