A TLC agent seized the car of a Brooklyn man and hit him with a summons for driving an illegal cab– even though it was a free trip for cancer patients.
Yeshaya Liebowitz, a 25-year-old volunteer driver for the Borough Park organization Chesed, was pulled over 8:30 a.m. Monday after he appeared to pick up an illegal street hail, the TLC said.
“I said I didn’t pay him anything,” said his passenger, a 54-year-old grandmother traveling to Manhattan for a 9:30 a.m. chemotherapy appointment who declined to give her name. “It’s a volunteer organization.”
Another officer told her they had already written out the summons, and there was nothing they could do, the grandmother added.
“This is his good deed, and he got slapped in the face for it,” she added. “It’s hard for people to understand that people do good. He just did this out of the kindness of his heart.”
Liebowitz was incensed that his 2014 Altima was seized while trying to take two patients to Manhattan hospitals.
“I tried to explain to him that I drive people to the hospital. I don’t do it for money– I pay the tolls, I pay for gas, I pay my time,” he said. “The woman tried to explain to him that she is a cancer patient, and I have to go to the hospital. He just ignored them.”
The woman then called Chesed for another car– and they came, despite what had happened to Liebowitz. She said she was late to her appointment.
“This is truly a case of ‘no good deed goes unpunished,’” said Councilman David Greenfield.
The TLC has since dropped the summons, and Liebowitz picked up his car from Knights Towing in Brooklyn.
“I spoke with the deputy at the Taxi and Limousine Commission who acknowledged that this incident was unfortunate,” said Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind.
“Not only is the agency acting quickly and releasing Mr. Liebowitz’s car, they have also set a meeting at my office to work out a system so these types of unfortunate incidents do not reoccur.”
A spokesman said their officers were in the area after a community leader had asked them to be vigilant about illegal activity– and spotted the car with a passenger in the backseat blow through a red light after not signaling.
The TLC agents pulled the car over after Liebowitz picked up a second woman who was waiving her arm with a cell phone from the curb.
He told the officers he was working for a volunteer organization, but didn’t have credentials, according to the TLC.
“We had no choice but to seize the vehicle,” said spokesman Allan Fromberg.
The agency said the officers misunderstood the passengers, who said their husbands arranged for the ride– and took that to mean money was a factor.
They will retrain the officers on interviewing passengers.
“It was regretful, we will take every step to make sure misunderstandings like this don’t happen in the future,” Fromberg added.