Baqir Raza will probably think again about being discriminating about the fares he picks up while driving around New York City. The cabbie was ordered to pay $25,000 in fines after he refused to pick up a Black executive and her family in favor of white passengers.
DNAInfo reported on the case and also followed up with Cynthia Jordan, the executive that Baza brazenly drove past in October 2013. Jordan, who works as a vice president of a stock transfer fund, was traveling from Queens on the LIRR when she tried to hail a cab in midtown Manhattan. Raza, who had his “on duty” light on, locked his doors and said he was off when Jordan and her two daughters tried to enter.
More from DNAInfo.com:
Cabbie Baqir Raza was hit with the penalty for telling Cynthia Jordan and her two daughters outside Macy’s in Midtown that he was off-duty when they tried to hail him, according to the judge’s decision.
Raza locked the doors to his cab, preventing the family from getting in, but then drove about 25 feet and picked up two white female passengers, the decision says.
Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings Judge Raymond Kramer ruled that Raza must pay $10,000 in compensation to Jordan and a $15,000 civil fine.
“I’m happy for the judgment,” Jordan told DNAinfo New York. “Hopefully, someone will hear about this, and it will affect the way taxi drivers pick up fares in New York.”
Jordan says that discrimination of this sort is a regular occurrence for she and her family.
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Photo: Wikipedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0/ChevronZ
