An appeals court tossed a $1,500 fine against a pedicab prince and said he can keep his license for 27 cabs worth $400,000 because officers violated his constitutional rights by randomly stopping one of his drivers.
The five-judge panel for the Appellate Court said Irafan Karakus’s driver Boubacar Diallo was pulled over by Dept. of Parks cops in September 2012 and slapped with a citation for nonworking signal lights.
“We find that the officers’ conduct was not reasonable within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment,” the panel found in its unanimous decision released Tuesday.
The city hasn’t decided if it will appeal the decision, a spokeswoman said.