New York's pedicab drivers have filed a lawsuit alleging the city wants them out of the business by issuing them excessive ticketing. The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan court by a former pedicab operator and the Capitol Pedicabs LLC that operates 30 pedicabs in the city.
The plaintiffs blamed Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton for introducing a policy to allegedly push the NY's pedicab drivers out of the business. The drivers claimed that New York City implemented a targeted ticketing campaign in 2011 that made operators pay fines and other legal fees. Bourama Camera, a former pedicab driver said that he quit driving pedicab after eight years because it's impossible for him to earn an income now, Reuters reported.
"They have implemented and are continuing to enforce, encourage and sanction a policy, practice and/or custom of unconstitutionally stopping and issuing violations to licensed pedicab drivers and companies," the NY's pedicab drivers said in the lawsuit, New York Daily News reports.
The plaintiffs alleged that New York City broke the ruling of the U.S. Constitution by persecuting NY's pedicab drivers with "suspicionless" stops and seizures. They claimed that their licenses have become essentially worthless because of the unnecessary fines issued by the city. plaintiffs' lawyer Austin Brown said that the city has implemented excessive ticketing not to gain extra income, but to drive the pedicabs out of the roads.
"The city is trying to do two things at once: They're trying to put the pedicabs out of business - and fill their own coffers at the same time," Brown said. "What we're looking for is we're looking for the city to treat the pedicabs fairly."
NY's pedicab drivers are seeking damages which are not specified in the suit. The lawsuit named the mayor and New York's police, consumer affairs and parks departments as the defendants. A spokesman for the city said that the merits of each of the claims in the suit will be reviewed.
