Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall was handcuffed and briefly detained by Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies after he was accused of fleeing to evade paying a $142 cab fare. The incident began around 5 a.m. Nov. 14 at Fort Lauderdale International Airport and was resolved at a Port Everglades security check point hours later.
Marshall had attended a 30th birthday party for teammate Karlos Dansby at the Fontainebleau on Miami Beach. Peterson Pierre, a driver for Miami Springs Taxi Company, picked him up at the resort and, after first going to Miami International Airport, they eventually ended up at the Fort Lauderdale airport.
“He didn’t know where he wanted to go,” Pierre told South Florida Times on Monday. “When I woke him up and told him he had to pay, he said he wasn’t and started arguing for me to take him home.”
Marshall could not be reached for comment. He told deputies there had been a misunderstanding due to Pierre’s accent, according to the police report.
“Marshall said the cab driver was difficult to understand because of his thick accent and refused to take him home,” the report states. “He indicated that, instead of continuing to argue with him, he simply walked away from him and he entered another cab to go home.”
According to the police report and Pierre’s accounts, Marshall said he had to use the restroom and then got out of Pierre’s cab. He entered the airport lobby and then Pierre saw him leave through a different exit and jump into another cab.
Marshall’s agent Kennard McGuire denied the Dolphins receiver did anything wrong.
“Completely innocent,” McGuire said in an e-mail to South Florida Times. “It was a communication issue, more of a language barrier, in not understanding Mr. Marshall's destination.”
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