Taxi Group Meets With NYPD, Says Drivers Face Police Hostility 'Every Single Day'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Taxi drivers have been meeting with NYPD brass after video of a detective unleashing a tirade on an Uber driver went viral.
Fernando Mateo, head of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, said Thursday the detective, Patrick Cherry, did his group a huge favor.
"Because now we got it on tape," Mateo told reporters, including WCBS 880's Marla Diamond. "We never had this on tape. But now we can actually show what goes on every single day.
Taxi Group Meets With NYPD, Says Drivers Face Police Hostility 'Every Single Day'
"And in a lot of cases, cab drivers are cockroaches. They're nothing," Mateo added. "They can't defend themselves. They can't really say much."
Mateo met with NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill, Diamond reported.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton stressed that complaints against officers are way down.
"But clearly the actions of that officer that were captured on that video indicate that the training program that we have just recently initiated is probably needed for some of our personnel," Bratton said.
Cherry, a member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, has been placed on modified duty.
A passenger in the Uber cab recorded the traffic stop on the West Side Highway near West 14th Street on Monday afternoon and posted it to YouTube.
"Stop it with your mouth. Stop it with your 'for what, sir, for what, sir.' Stop it with that bulls**t, and realize there are three vehicle traffic law violations that you committed, OK?" the detective says. "Do you understand me? I don't know what f***ing planet you think you're on right now."
Warning: Strong Language
The detective apparently leaves, and the passenger in the back seat tells the driver he has the encounter on video, calling it "crazy" and "inappropriate" and advising the driver not to say anything.
The detective then returns.
"I don't care what you have to say. You understand that?" he tells the driver. "People are allowed to park their cars on the side of the street without your interference, and then your opinion about what's going on, OK? Especially when the person you're doing it to are the police.
"The only reason why you're not in handcuffs and going to jail and getting summonses in the precinct is because I have things to do. That's the only reason that's not happening, because this isn't important enough for me. You're not important enough," the cop says.
The detective was wearing a suit and no badge. He was driving an unmarked Hyundai with flashing blue and red lights in the windshield, and supposedly pulled over the driver for honking at him because the detective did not use a blinker.
Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association, came to Cherry's defense Thursday. He issued a statement saying the punishment was too severe, and suggested that it is being treated like the Michael Brown or Eric Garner cases.
"This is neither Ferguson nor Staten Island, but it is receiving equal attention," Palladino said in the statement. "Modification and transfer is unprecedented punishment for a discourtesy."
