A 60-year-old taxi driver was punched in the head and struck with a beer bottle while his two passengers shouted racial slurs at him on Tappan Street near Washington Square early Sunday, July 20, according to a police report filed in Brookline District Court.

Richard O'Neill, 50, of Brookline and Romeo Bajrami, 41, of Boston were arrested at the scene and arraigned Monday morning, July 21. Both face hate crime charges under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 265, Section 39, which criminalizes assault and battery committed to intimidate based on a person's race or other protected class.

Brookline Police Superintendent Paul Campbell said in an email Monday that "in this particular case there does seem to be some pretty strong evidence that race was a factor in this incident."

What the police report alleges

The driver told police he picked up O'Neill and Bajrami at a strip club in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday night, July 19, agreeing on a flat fare of $250 to drive them to Brookline. During the ride, the two men drank beer in his vehicle and "repeatedly directed racial slurs at him," including the N-word, according to the police report.

The men also told the driver that if he reported the incident to police, he would not be believed because he is Black, the report states.

When the driver dropped them off at a Tappan Street apartment building south of Beacon Street around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, both men punched him in the back of the head, according to the report. O'Neill also allegedly struck the driver in the head with a beer bottle, and both men threatened to kill him.

The driver fled on foot. The men chased him.

While running, the driver took a photo that police said shows O'Neill holding a bottle by the neck. Audio from a 911 call also captured the men using racial slurs, according to the report.

Police arrived, separated the men, and called paramedics. The driver was evaluated at the scene but not transported to a hospital.

Charges and bail

O'Neill faces five charges: assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a person over 60, threats to commit a crime, evading a taxi fare, and assault and battery to intimidate (the hate crime charge).

Bajrami faces three charges: assault and battery on a person over 60, threats to commit a crime, and assault and battery to intimidate.

Both men were held on $20,000 bond or $2,000 cash bail following their arraignment. No attorneys for either man were listed in court records as of Monday afternoon.

Campbell explained that under Massachusetts law, a person's protected class status does not need to be the sole reason for a crime to qualify as a hate crime. It only needs to be part of the motivation.

Bajrami separately faces federal immigration charges in Michigan, where prosecutors allege he stole a Sea-Doo watercraft in Ontario in August 2025 and used it to cross illegally into the United States, according to a Detroit News report cited by Brookline.News.

Anyone with information about the Tappan Street incident can contact the Brookline Police Department at 617-730-2222.