Top Cop Puts Brakes on Police Searches of Taxi Passengers

Top cop puts brakes on police searches of taxi passengers Kelly order result of lawsuit by two men frisked in separate incidents; exceptions are evidence of crime or safety issue

BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, May 9, 2012, 2:00 AM

BRYAN SMITH DAILY NEWS Terrence Battle The city's top cop warned officers that they can’ t search taxi passengers or pull them from cabs — unless there’ s an obvious safety issue or crime inside the vehicle.

The NYPD operational order, issued on April 27, is a direct result of a lawsuit filed by two men who say they were forced out of livery cars and searched by cops, police sources said. In separate incidents, both men accused police of racial profiling and unlawful searches.

“I’m happy it came out of something I went through,” said Terrence Battle, 39, a former manager at FM radio stations Hot 97 and Kiss. “Hopefully no one will ever go through what I went through — or even worse.” Battle was confronted by police in November 2010, just as a livery driver was about to drop him off outside his Bedford-Stuyvesant home.

The officers forced Battle out of the cab, questioned and frisked him and searched his bag, he claimed in the lawsuit.

The Brooklyn man, who is black, objected. And the driver told police that he wasn’t in danger, Battle told the Daily News.

Cops pointed to the TRIP (Taxi/Livery Robbery Inspection Program) decal in the livery car window and told Battle they had the right to search him.

The cabbie’s participation in the driver-safety program allows police to stop him at any time. It wasn’t clear whether officers were told before the recent order that they could search passengers or pull them from cabs.

Police officials wouldn’t comment on Kelly’s directive. They also wouldn’t talk about the lawsuit.

Munir Pujara, a 38-year-old lawyer, said he was threatened with arrest when the livery car he was riding in was pulled over in the Bronx two months earlier. Pujara, of South Asian descent, is the second plaintiff in the suit.

Police sources said the suit is headed toward a settlement that includes police changing the way they do business.

Under terms of the new directive, police can only question and frisk passengers if they have reason to believe they are dangerous or involved in a crime. And they can’t do anything if the passenger decides to walk away from the scene.

Police can, with the consent of the taxi or livery driver, open up the passenger door to look inside.

Christopher Dunn, associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed the suit, had no comment on settlement talks.

But he said it appears that until Battle came forward, police officers believed “they could question and frisk passengers merely because they were in the car.” [email protected]