Black Man Accused of Being Illegal Cab Driver While Dropping Wife Off at Work
According to a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court, Dan Keys Jr. of New York City was dropping off his biracial wife, Symone Palermo, at work when he was pulled over by investigators and his town car was confiscated.
By: Breanna Edwards
Posted: June 11 2014 11:38 AM
Lincoln Town Car
Wiki Commons/Wikipedia
A couple is suing New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission for a hefty $3 million for racially profiling the husband as he dropped his wife off at work, DNA.info reports, and accusing him of being an illegal taxi driver with an unsuspecting white passenger—his wife.
The TLC confiscated the couple's Lincoln Town Car for more than a week and gave each of them a summons, even as the couple attempted to explain the situation to the agents.
According to the report, back in May 2013, Dan Keys Jr., 66, who is black, was dropping off his biracial wife, 53-year-old Symone Palermo, at her job in the New York City borough of Queens. Palermo was sitting in the backseat because rain had gotten in on the front passenger seat the evening before.
After Palermo got out of the car and Keys drove off, Keys was pulled over by TLC agents, who accused him of using the car as an illegal taxicab, tossing in the line that a "white female" passenger had confirmed that he was unlicensed, DNA.info notes. Palermo did return to the scene to try and get everything cleared up, but instead each of them got a summons and their car was taken away. In addition, Palermo was given a ticket because the car is in her name.
"Upon information and belief, when attempting to identify illegally operated taxis, it is the official policy or custom of [the city and the TLC] to instruct its employees to target and single out vehicles operated by minorities with white passengers," the lawsuit, which was filed last week in the Queens Supreme Court, claims.
"We think there was no basis for the TLC to have pulled over my clients in the first instance," their lawyer, David Haber, told the news site. "Once they pulled over my clients, [the investigators] had many opportunities to let them go—to realize they pulled over the wrong people. Instead they doubled down on their mistake. I believe that they flat-out lied in their summonses."
The couple did get some closure last year, when a city administrative judge dismissed the summonses, but the TLC still kept the couple's car until Palermo won her case days later.
Read more at DNAinfo.
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TLC agents ticketed man for operating an illegal cab — but passenger turns out to be his wife: suit
Queens couple Dan Keys Jr., 66, and Symone Palermo, 53, filed a $3 million suit claiming the city and Taxi and Limousine Commission were targeting them because of their race.
BY Oren Yaniv
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, June 11, 2014, 6:34 PM
Racially biased inspectors ticketed a black man as an illegal cabbie after spotting him drop off a seemingly white passenger — which turned out to be his wife, according to a lawsuit.
Queens couple Dan Keys Jr., 66, and Symone Palermo, 53, filed a $3 million suit against the city and the Taxi and Limousine Commission, claiming they were unlawfully targeted on May 2013 by agents who slapped them with summonses and seized their Lincoln Town Car for eight days.
The unfortunate incident unfolded when Keys dropped off Palermo at a Flushing mall, where she works in a Bob’s Discount Furniture store, according to legal documents.
He was then approached by TLC employees who charged that his passenger had left the back seat, which meant he was providing her an illegal ride.
They falsely claimed “the white female passenger exchanged money and that the passenger had confirmed that the Town Car was being operated as a taxi,” according to the lawsuit filed last week in Queens Supreme Court.
“Upon information, the only reason that the TLC agents stopped Keys was because they observed an African-American male driving what they thought to be a white female,” court papers charged.
They added that Palermo — “who is, in fact, bi-racial” — then returned to the car and explained she is the driver’s wife.
But the Bayside couple’s explanations fell on deaf ears.
They both received summonses — the wife ironically got one as the registered owner of the car — and the agents allegedly continued the charade to cover up their mistake.
An administrative judge finally ruled in the couple’s favor over a week later, tossing the tickets and returning the vehicle.
Reached at her work Wednesday, Palermo declined to provide additional details .
“We’re just letting the legal system take its course,” she said.
The lawsuit argued the city and TLC are guilty of civil rights violations because they have a policy “to instruct its employees to target and single out vehicles operated by minorities with white passengers.”
It also blamed the city for not creating a “procedure in which they investigated the unlawful acts of” rogue agents “or properly investigated reports of their alleged misconduct.”
The couple’s lawyer David Haber did not return calls.
“We’re respectfully reserving comment at this time in light of the pending litigation,” said TLC spokesman Allan Fromberg.
The agency came under fire earlier this month after an overzealous inspector impounded the car of a volunteer for a Jewish organization that provides free rides to hospitals.
The TLC admitted that foul-up that same day, released the vehicle and dismissed the summons.
With Lisa L. Colangelo
oyaniv@nydailynews.com
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NYC since then.
I still want to thank the cac who helped me into that cab.
