James Timothy John Rogers, 29, had caught the cab from the taxi rank in Town and asked to be taken to his home in Valnord Hill.
But he later got the taxi to stop in Vauvert and there was a physical confrontation between the two men.
The driver went on to make a statement about the incident, which he later withdrew.
However, said Advocate Phoebe Cobb, prosecuting, the offence with which Rogers had been charged occurred after a small crowd of onlookers had gathered on hearing the confrontation and who tried to pacify the situation.
That led to Rogers admitting to using threatening, abusive and insulting words and behaviour against an unknown person, which might have led them to believe that violence was going to be used against them.
He had shouted that he would ‘kill everyone’ and made threatening and racist remarks, although it was unclear who these were aimed at.
Police were called to Vauvert. Rogers was arrested but continued shouting and swearing.
He later told police that he had been in shock and that was probably why he had made some of the comments.
Advocate Chris Green, defending, said Rogers had been stressed at the time as well as being in pain and under the influence of alcohol.
Before the taxi stopped Rogers had been involved in a verbal dispute with the driver.
He claimed that the driver had taken him to the ground and during the struggle he had broken some fingers.
Rogers said he wished to apologise for this offence.
He had a number of previous convictions but there had been improvements in his behaviour.
He had a job and there was a character reference from his employer.
He was now the primary carer for his eight-year-old child and if he was sent to prison the child would be impacted by his absence.
Although the probation report said that Rogers had a high likelihood of reoffending, this did not reflect his recent achievements and the steps he had taken to avoid committing further offences.
Judge Gary Perry said that the progress and achievements meant only that Rogers was behaving in a way that the community would expect its citizens to behave, and it was not something he would get a lot of credit for since he was just heading for a baseline of no misbehaving.
He had an extremely poor record and the judge said he was sure that he would continue to see Rogers in court again.
But on this occasion he would not send him to prison, and instead imposed a 140-hour community service order as an alternative to a four-month jail term.
Rogers was also made subject of a probation order for a year.