Miami Dolphins safety Jonathon Amaya was arrested in the wee hours of Monday morning and charged with battery after an alleged altercation with a cabdriver.
The alleged dispute stems from a 40-mile trip Amaya allegedly took from Bamboo nightclub on Miami Beach to Weston, in Broward County.
Amaya is allegedly a player for the Dolphins, but this is the first time you're probably hearing of him.
Allegedly.
This is the second time a Dolphins player has gotten into a brouhaha with a South Florida cabbie. Back in December of 2011, then-receiver Brandon Marshall apparently tried to get out of a $142 fare by getting out of the cab and then sneaking into another one (Marshall said it was all just a big misunderstanding and eventually paid the fare owed).
According to the cabbie in this latest mishap, Amaya put his hands around the taxi driver's neck and started choking him. Ain't no misunderstanding there!
Salvador Vunge, 44, picked up Amaya in his Super Yellow Cab around 4 a.m. Monday. Amaya then reportedly gave Vunge $100 for the ride. But Vunge told the player he couldn't take him to where Amaya wanted to go because it was too far a drive.
Vunge apparently quit taking people that far because he had been stiffed on the fare in the past. Amaya insisted, and so Vunge eventually obliged.
But once they were on the MacCarthur Causeway, Vunge decided to turn back around and take Amaya back to Bamboo.
"He was on the phone, and I didn't like his attitude," Vunge told the Sun Sentinel. "It felt not safe for me."
Vunge flagged down a couple of cops by honking his horn. The police officers didn't notice the cabbie. But according to the police report, Vunge was described as driving erratically toward them while screaming, "This man is trying to kill me!"
The report also says that there were no injuries found on Vunge but that he claimed he was bleeding from his ear.
Amaya, 24, has been with the Dolphins since 2011 and was part of the package that brought Reggie Bush to Miami in a trade with the New Orleans Saints.
Amaya was booked into a Miami-Dade County jail shortly before 8 a.m. Monday and was being held in lieu of a $1,500 bond.
Just like you, Vunge had never heard of Amaya and didn't even know he was a Miami Dolphin.
"I'm more of a basketball fan," he said.
Strangled by a Miami Dolphins player (allegedly!), but more of a Heat fan?
We think there's a Salvador Vunge inside us all.
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