An evening fare turned to a face-to-face encounter with a pistol for a Bend cab diver Wednesday, according to city police.
Mark Dietrich, 45, of Bend reported that Robert Farnsworth, 24, also of Bend, left his identification card as security while he retrieved money to pay for his ride home from downtown bar.
Instead, Farnsworth returned to the cab parked at 11:05 p.m. outside his home on Southwest Garfield Avenue with a pistol and demanded Dietrich return his ID card, the taxi driver told police. Dietrich exited, placed the card on the taxi windshield and left, according to a Bend police statement this morning.
He summoned police, however, who waited outside Farnsworth’s home with Zlatan, a police dog, and ordered him to come outside. He at first refused, according to police, but eventually surrendered without incident. Bend Police Cpl. J. Lawrence reported a search of the residence turned up an air-soft pistol police believe is the weapon Farnsworth pointed at the taxi driver.
Farnsworth is jailed at the Deschutes County Adult jail, charged with second-degree robbery and theft of services and a Wyoming warrant for delivery of a controlled substance.
