A Black man was accused of being an illegal cab driver in New York City after dropping his bi-racial wife to work. Dan Keys Jr., 66, drove his wife Symone Palermo, 53, to work last May. Palermo was riding in the backseat of the couple’s Lincoln Town Car because rain had fallen on the passenger seat. After dropping his wife off at work in the borough of Queens, a New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission officials stopped keys and gave him a summons for operating an illegal, personal cab. Despite efforts to explain the situation, and his wife returning to the scene to vouch for him, investigators still confiscated their vehicle. Palermo received a ticket because the car was in her name.
“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.”
A city administrative judge dismissed the summons, although the Commission kept the couple’s car until the case’s conclusion days later.
The pair is suing the Commission for $3 million dollars.
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