New York’s Taxi Commission Seems to Think Everybody Is Driving Illegal Cabs

So it appears that New York
City Taxi and Limousine Commission can suspect just about anybody
of picking up other people of operating an illegal cab. And based
on just this suspicion, they are able seize people’s vehicles until
they prove otherwise. Guess the obvious outcome of such authority.
It’s about as bad as you can imagine (though at least they’re not
getting arrested). From
DNAinfo New York:

Kareeal Akins still gets chills thinking about the long, frigid
walk home that he and his then-pregnant wife were forced to make
this past winter after the city seized his car.  

At about 9 p.m. on Jan. 24, he drove his white 2002 Honda Accord
from his Sheepshead Bay apartment to the corner of Church Avenue
and Ocean Parkway in Kensington to pick up his wife, Natalie, from
her friend’s home.

He remembers pulling up to the intersection, his wife getting
into his car and then a vehicle behind them flashing its
sirens.

It wasn’t police officers stopping them. It was two Taxi and
Limousine Commission inspectors, enforcement agents tasked with
policing livery cars and yellow taxis to protect New Yorkers from
dangerous and uninsured illegal cabbies.

What many New Yorkers don’t know is TLC inspectors also have the
power to seize a vehicle they suspect of operating as an illegal
cab.

And that’s exactly what they did. They refused to believe the
couple were married, and they ended up having to walk home in the
freezing cold. A week later a judge dismissed the case after Kareel
provided pay stubs showing he had a job elsewhere.

They were not alone, DNAinfo investigated more than
7,000 of these claims made by the commission over the year 2013.
They found close to 1,500 cases that were dismissed because
officials weren’t following the law or ignoring explanations.
Several of them were snagged like Kareeal for driving family
members or friends around:

While the drivers proved their innocence, they still had their
vehicles temporarily seized and either went without a car for weeks
while they awaited their hearing at the tribunal in Long Island
City or shelled out hefty sums to get it back from the impound
lot. 

What could be the incentive for the officials to be such jerks?
Money, of course:

The seizures are a revenue producer for the city. Accused
drivers or the owners of the allegedly illegal cab can plead
guilty, but must pay a fine of at least $600 and hundreds of
dollars more for the cost of towing and impoundment.

The accused also have the option of posting a $2,000 bond to get
their car out of an impound lot while they wait for their day in
court. If they win, they get the money back.

Retired MTA bus maintainer John Brunson, 65, said even though he
won his case, he ended up spending $1,200 on a rental car, a lawyer
and towing fees.

The South Ozone Park resident had his black 2005 Dodge Magnum
seized on Sept. 19, 2013, after he dropped his girlfriend off at
her job at the Resorts World Casino in Queens. When she got out of
the front passenger seat, she handed him a flier from Wal-Mart,
where the two had been earlier in the day.

TLC Inspectors believed it was dollar bills and, working with
the NYPD, they stopped his car as he left the casino’s parking
lot. 

DNAInfo has a number of additional examples linked to their
story. Several cases revolve around minorities driving around
friends (or partners) who happen to be white and the officials
making assumptions.

(Hat tip to former Reason intern John K. Ross)