Feb. 24--A Chicago cabdriver has been fined $800 and his chauffeur's license was suspended for 10 days in connection with a customer who said he sexually harassed her, city officials said Monday.
The 27-year-old driver was found liable of abusive behavior and discourteous conduct by a city administrative law judge Feb. 13. The driver has not been charged criminally in Cook County.
The administrative law judge's decision stemmed from an incident Dec. 13 along North Elston Avenue, in which a Chicago woman said she was sexually harassed by the driver, who lives in Chicago.
"He was menacing and demanded again and again why I wasn't interested in hooking up with him," said the woman, who emailed the Tribune four days after the incident. "I know, sadly, that sexual harassment takes place constantly, but I feel like I need to do something," she said. "This man should not be a cabdriver."
The woman said that at one point during the trip she became concerned she was being "abducted, after my cabdriver took me much farther west than where I'd asked him to take me."
The driver initially contested the charges, but he subsequently pleaded guilty, said Mika Stambaugh, spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, which regulates the taxicab industry in the city. The case was filed by the city of Chicago.
The driver, who records show has been licensed as a chauffeur in Chicago since March 2010, has the right to appeal by filing a civil lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court within 35 days of the administrative law judge's ruling.
In addition to the $800 in fines and a $40 administrative fee, the driver was ordered to complete a physical exam, submit to drug testing and take an eight-hour "discourtesy drivers class" before he receives his permanent license back, Stambaugh said.
His 10-day license suspension started Feb. 13, she said.
The passenger, who testified at the driver's hearing, said Monday she was "extremely disappointed" in the law judge's decision to suspend the driver's chauffeur's license instead of revoking it.
Stambaugh said the department "takes complaints very seriously and does not tolerate drivers abusing passengers. As with this case, we will seek the maximum punishment enforceable."
jhilkevitch@tribpub.com
