Black Man Driving Wife to Work Accused of Being Illegal Cab Driver: Lawsuit

Black Man Driving Wife to Work Accused of Being Illegal Cab Driver: Lawsuit(dnainfo.com)

23 points by mike_esspe 11 years ago | 11 comments

_pius 11 years ago |

Shameful that the word "black" was elided from the beginning of the title. It's a whitewashing that completely obscures the point of the article.

Edit: Happy to see it's been restored.

dang 11 years ago | |

Thanks for pointing that out. It was an odd edit, and we've reverted the title.

The article itself has been flagged by users. Rightly so, I'd say, since it doesn't report an interesting new phenomenon or offer insight.

lugg 11 years ago | |

The story is about a couple suing the taxi commission over racial profiling. Sure it doesn't matter what color skin they have but id hardly call explaining the situation, how and why the couple arein the right to be whitewashing the story. How would you propose the author should have tippy toed around the color of their skin while still explaining exactly what they are suuing over, - which by the way, is the fact that the commission mistakingly labeled her as white being part of the problem.

Dylan16807 11 years ago | | |

You're not responding to the comment you think you're responding to.

quotient 11 years ago | |

Yes. This article is just as much about a ridiculous misstep by the Taxi & Limousine Commission as it is about racism.

nasmorn 11 years ago |

My favorite sentence is "biracial woman mistakenly identified as white". Racial profiling right there. There is no valid reason to even consider if someone's skin is tanned or genetically darker for purposes of taxi regulation. I would led it slide for maybe a dermatologist.

cperciva 11 years ago | |

I would led it slide for maybe a dermatologist.

It's medically relevant far beyond dermatology; having darker skin than normal for one's racial background can be a symptom (e.g., of primary adrenal insufficiency), while knowing a patient's racial background can be important for diagnosing and treating diseases which are far more common in some racial groups than others (e.g., drepanocytosis).

But absolutely agree that it is not relevant to taxi regulation.

adamnemecek 11 years ago |

How does the "Taxi and Limousine Commission" have the jurisdiction to seize someone's car?

greenyoda 11 years ago | |

Asset forfeiture: "Asset forfeiture is a form of confiscation of assets by the state, pursuant to law. It typically applies to the alleged proceeds or instrumentalities of crime."

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_forfeiture

What bothers me about this practice is that a person's assets - possibly assets like a car, that the person depends on for their livelihood - can be seized without the person having been convicted of any crime. This seems to be a blatant violation of due process.

quotient 11 years ago | |

Probably not directly, but via the police. Remember that the article indicates that some sort of legal kerfuffle took place, and it may be reasonable to assume that at some point the police got involved. This makes sense as the man was suspected of being an illegal cab driver, in which case it is easy to seize the car as "evidence" or as an asset/instrument in the alleged crime.

omonra 11 years ago |

Mr. and Mrs. Daisy were not amused and plan to sue