Maria Victoria Bayoneto is a local of the Phillipines.
Gregory P. Mango
A Harlem lawyer claims the Taxi & Limousine Fee threatened to bust her for appearing as an unlawful cab service when she dropped her nanny off at LaGuardia Airport.
Maria Victoria Bayoneto — a 52-year-old single mother — mentioned she was the sufferer of racial profiling when TLC brokers used “intimidation techniques” and surrounded her automotive earlier than making the unfounded accusations.
“They have been very agency,” the company lawyer, a local of the Philipines, instructed The Put up on Sunday.
“They only stored asking the identical factor, though I’m like, ‘What’s occurring?’ “
Bayoneto then mentioned the brokers gave her an ultimatum.
“After some time [one agent] mentioned, ‘We will do that one in all two methods,’ ” she defined concerning the June 8 standoff.
“‘One, we will do it the simple approach: You give us your ID and inform us why you want it, or two shall be tougher.’ And I mentioned, ‘Look, I’m only a mother dropping off the nanny.’ “
She mentioned at one level as many as a half-dozen plain garments cops surrounded her, “harassing me, intimidating me, displaying me handcuffs.”
She added: “They have been round my automotive they usually had my respiration, so I couldn’t go away at that time.”
TLC officers are unarmed and never affiliated with the NYPD.
The shocked lawyer mentioned she’s since filed a criticism with the town by means of 311 and reached out to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s workplace to report the pointless encounter.
She instructed The Put up she’s additionally weighing authorized motion towards the company.
Bayoneta mentioned the ugly scene unfolded when she bought again in her automotive and a girl knocked on her automotive window, asking, “Are you obtainable for a experience?”
“And I used to be very puzzled, like, what are you saying? Then I’m like, ‘Wait. I’m not an Uber or Lyft driver.’ And he or she mentioned, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, okay,'” she mentioned. “After which I believe I noticed her nodding towards some individuals.
“After which I circled and there have been two males in plainclothes knocking on my window,” she recalled. “They usually mentioned, ‘Can we see your registration and your driver’s license?’ ‘Why?’ They usually simply repeated the query and I mentioned, ‘Why? Why do you want it? What did I do?'”
Bayoneta mentioned she was finally allowed to go — however has been steaming ever since.
“They'd completely no cheap grounds for it,” she fumed. “I believe my constitutional rights have been violated, and I believe I used to be racially profiled.
“I believe I used to be racially profiled as a result of none of my mates who're white would in all probability be stopped on the airport to suspect they might be a driver,” she mentioned. “Not that there’s something fallacious with being a TLC driver however I gave no indication.”
The TLC didn't instantly reply to a request for remark.
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