Child left in Boston cab; driver faced suspension

[WI_DEM]

BOSTON - When Boston taxi driver Joseph Cohen discovered that he had unwittingly driven off with a sleeping 5-year-old girl in the back of his van after dropping the rest of her family off at their home, he knew he was doing the right thing by immediately returning the child to her worried parents.

So Cohen, a cabbie for 39 years, was surprised when the Boston Police Hackney Unit told him that he faced a three-day suspension for violating rules requiring drivers to inspect their cabs for forgotten items after dropping off a fare. A union representing cabbies also expressed outrage, saying the fault should lie with the child's family, not the driver.

For Cohen, the story had a happy ending Tuesday. He told The Associated Press that police agreed to drop the suspension while telling him to check his van more carefully in the future. Cohen said the girl had been in the back of the van behind another seat and he could not see her from his rearview mirror or from the outside of the vehicle.


http://enews.earthlink.net/article/us?guid=20090728/4a6e85d0_3426_1335020090728-1315617809

[MADem]

1. Jesus--ANOTHER dumb decision by the police!!!!!! At least they corrected this one!

I'm starting to despair about the efficacy of policing in the Land of the Bean and the Cod, frankly!

What's wrong with that family, that they missed the litle kid?

[bertman]

4. Could it just possibly be that the rule about checking the vehicle came about because

of some previous incident like this.

Would the police decision have been so dumb if the guy had gone into a restaurant and parked the van, locked up, and the child died due to heat stroke?

You need to get a fucking grip, MADem. You may really be going mad.

[MADem]

6. Oh, sure--I don't argue with the rule, I argue with the "no exceptions" policy.

I do have a "fucking grip" bertman--I can't fathom why the child, who was hidden from view from within and without the vehicle, was not missed by her family, first of all, and I also cannot fathom why, when it is plain that the driver realized what had happened and immediately took corrective action, that this was not at once taken into consideration as a factor in mitigation, instead of suspending the guy and initially treating him like a bum for doing the right thing.

This did produce one of those "teachable moments"--I'm sure every driver of that style van is forewarned and forearmed, thanks to this guy.

It's not terribly adult or rational of you to tell people with whom you disagree that they 'need to get a fucking grip' and 'may really be going mad'--that's just lame and dumb and very poor form on your part. It suggests that you don't have much confidence in your ability to put forth an argument without attaching an "internet-style" insult to it.

A little maturity, bertman? It might make people take YOU more seriously, nu?

You have a nice day, now!
:hi:

[izquierdista]

12. You do "have a grip"

So does the cab driver. The family, on the other hand, sounds like the McAllisters

Buzz: "Kevin, you're a disease."

[MADem]

16. Why thank you. It's appreciated. nt

[Warpy]

8. The police decision was dumb because they made it after

the cabbie discovered the little girl and returned her to her family.

Had this not happened so promptly, the decision would have made sense.

[whistler162]

13. Actually according to the article...

"Minutes later, he got a call from the cab pool at the airport, telling him state police, who have jurisdiction over Logan, were looking for him.

"I said to them 'for what?'" he recalled.

He was told the family left the child in his cab.

"I said 'what?' So I looked in the back and I see the baby sleeping. I said 'what should I do?' So you know, I take the baby (back) to the family," he said."

So while he verified that the child was in the cab he really didn't discover the child.

Cuodos to the Boston PD for suspending the suspension.

[Warpy]

14. Ah, that does make a bit of a difference.

However, the suspension should have been ended. This was mostly the family's fault.

I think he'll be a lot more careful about counting noses when people get into and out of his cab from now on, though.

[whistler162]

15. It was...

"The following day, Cohen said, he was ordered to report to the Hackney unit, where police told him his license was suspended for three days because he didn't do a thorough check of the van. He appealed the suspension and was allowed to keep his license pending a hearing. But Tuesday, he said, he visited the police station with an attorney and was told the suspension would be dropped."

According to the article the incident happened on Sunday, he was informed that becasue of the rule violation he was facing a 3 day suspension, which he appealed while retaining his license, and Tuesday the suspension was dropped.

[Raven]

2. I feel badly for the cab driver...are the parents going to be suspended?

[xultar]

3. Zing!

[MADem]

7. +1. nt

[Maru Kitteh]

10. +3

[whistler162]

11. Worse...

They have to watch Home Alone I and II for three days straight with live commentary from Macaulay Culkin.

[sallylou666]

5. Parents?

Who forgets their own kid in a cab? :shrug:

[KittyWampus]

9. Oh come now, a baby and a piece of baggage. Who hasn't forgotten one or the other at some point?

:)

maybe they just came off a long flight and hadn't much sleep?

[MADem]

17. .....

:rofl:

Britney, is that you?

:rofl:

Naaah--Britney would have made the baby drive home from the airport!