Based on a recent news report, a New York taxi driver received a $25,000 fine for racially discriminating passengers in October 2013. According to Cynthia Jordan, the woman who filed lawsuit, cabbie Baqir Raza refused to take their order because they were black and chose a white woman, instead.
Administrative Law Judge Richard Kramer agreed that the taxi driver Baqir Raza intentionally refused to pick up Cynthia Jordan and her two daughters in October 2013. For the moment, the man has been charged with a $25,000 fine, but additional charges could be brought against him as the case gets analyzed by the Human Rights Commission.
Cynthia Jordan told the judge that she and her two daughters approached the Manhattan cab in order to get to a family birthday party. They chose that particular cab because the green light suggested them the car was available. However, Raza told them that his shift was over, turning the cab’s lights off.
Several seconds later, Jordan saw the taxi driver as he picked up two white women 25 feet away from her. Raza made an attempt to justify himself by writing to the agency that he has picked up the two women because another driver got out of his shift.
Unfortunately, Raza’s response was not sufficient to convince the judges that he was innocent. Investigators have analyzed his trip log and noticed that there was just a two-minute lag between the former drop-off and the next pickup. Based on this new information in the lawsuit, Raza was forced to pay $200 to the city taxi company for violating their rules which prohibit the unjustly refusal of passengers.
Raza’s case has stirred the media’s attention, particularly since many cab drivers have been accused of discriminating passengers, based on their skin color, gender and race. These cases are not frequent only in New York; similar accusations have been made in other states, as well, authorities have added.
The taxi commission in Washington D.C. started a similar initiative last year in an attempt to prevent customers from being offended by taxi drivers. Their effort came as a response to the 84 lawsuits that passengers have made against cabbies in Washington D.C., in 2014.
Image source: www.wnyc.org
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