From the Chicago Dispatcher, July 16, 2008
Enough is Enough
Cabdriver Zeshan Sheikh takes stand against O'Hare traffic aide's treatment.
By: Jonathan Bullington
For Zeshan Sheikh, this was going to be a real good fare. Early that morning, June 16th, he had picked up a passenger from the Lincoln Park area going to O'Hare Airport. As they drove, the two men struck up a conversation. Now, with the departure lane approaching, Sheikh made arrangements to pick up the man every week and take him to O'Hare. This regular fare would be the perfect end to his night shift, roughly $32 plus tip guaranteed one day a week, and with a final destination so close to his home in west-suburban Norridge. All that remained was a drop off at Terminal One and an exchange of information - phone numbers and what not - and his day would be done.
The second busiest airport in the nation was particularly busy that Monday morning, yet Sheikh was able to pull to the curb immediately upon entering the terminal. The story would have ended here, had not it been for a traffic aid, who quickly approached Sheikh's cab and told him to pull forward.
But, Sheikh said cars were double and triple parked further down the terminal, so he moved to the next closest spot, which still left him double-parked. He was giving his passenger the receipt from his credit card transaction when he heard a “very hard knock” on his window. Surprised, Sheikh wheeled around to see who hit his window only to find a traffic aid standing outside his door.
“I got out and said, 'Excuse me, you just punched my window,'” Sheikh said. “There was no need to do that. He could have just tapped on the window.”
Once outside the cab, Sheikh said the aid told him to move his cab, yet his passenger was in the process of taking his luggage out of the trunk, so he told the aid he couldn't move his cab until the passenger finished.
At this point, Sheikh said the aid started writing him a ticket. He tried protesting, but to no avail.
“He told me to shut the hell up,” Sheikh said. Sheikh, taking great offense to being cursed at, told the aid to write his ticket because he was going to contest it in court. When the aid finished, Sheikh said he threw the ticket at him and made a derogatory comment about Muslims. Sheikh said the aid then told him to move his cab immediately or he'd write him another ticket and have his cab towed.
“I asked him where [the ticket] was, since he threw it at me,” Sheikh said. “[The traffic aid] picked up the ticket from under my cab and gave it to me.”
Meanwhile, while this transpired, Sheikh's passenger - the potential regular customer - had already grabbed his luggage and, possibly weary of the conflict ensuing, departed for his flight - without exchanging information with Sheikh. Insulted, dejected, angered, Sheikh decided to leave the airport.
Two weeks later, he filed a complaint with the Department of Aviation (DOA). The Chicago Dispatcher followed up on Sheikh's complaint, to see what - if anything - was being done. Karen Pride, spokeswoman for DOA said the Office of Emergency Management (OEMC) manages traffic aides. OEMC spokeswoman Jennifer Martinez, in an e-mail to the Chicago Dispatcher, said her office has launched a complaint investigation into Sheikh's case.
“The public safety of Chicago residents is one of our number one priorities,” Martinez said, “and that includes all residents - no matter what their background. We want traffic control aides to be on the streets to assist residents. If residents feel like they have been subject to improper behavior, we encourage them to file a complaint through 311.”
Martinez added that traffic control aides go through diversity training, violence in the work place classes and other training to help them understand how to communicate with the public without conflict.
“Additionally,” Martinez said, “respect for the community is brought up regularly at roll calls.”
For Sheikh's part, he wants action. He said he wants traffic aides at both airports to realize they can't get away with disrespecting cabdrivers. Prior to his incident at O'Hare, he had a run-in with a traffic aid at Midway. On that occasion, Sheikh said the aid approached his cab and told him to move his cab even though his passenger was still exiting the cab.
“The passenger was half in the car and half out of the car,” Sheikh remembered. “I had to ask him to sit back down so I could drop him at the end of the terminal.”
Sheikh also relayed two stories of his brother (also a cabdriver) being harassed. One incident took place at a gas station on Touhy and Skokie Boulevard. Sheikh said his brother was talking with some friends when police arrived asking questions - specifically - if they had any weapons, guns or bombs in the car? Two months after the gas-station incident, Sheikh said his brother took a passenger to Argonne Laboratories only to have a security guard ask if he was an America citizen.
“This all built up,” Sheikh said of these incidents. “Something has to be done, or at least someone has to try to do something. The ticket is the least of the issue. There were other vehicles blocking traffic - more than me. Why not ticket them?”
Sheikh said he was at O'Hare the day before he spoke with the Chicago Dispatcher. He pulled over at Terminal Three to drop his passenger when a traffic aid approached him about blocking traffic.
“He tapped on my window and asked me to move to another spot,” Sheikh recalled. “That's all I was looking for.”
I will ask this again. When are we going to "stage an incident where a traffic aide issues a citation when a person with a disability is exiting a taxi? This is an example of where a camera is useful. Not when someones head is getting blown off. The crime is aready comitted when the camera catches it. This isn't ideal to anyone with common sense. Don't worry George L. We'll get the guy that killed you from the images eventually. We'll get justice for your family.
Shields have virtually stopped the murder of properly licensed cabs/drivers here in Chicago. Go ahead and open up the flood gates again when they are removed. I agree with Wolfgang, the only real use for cameras is to try to counter attack the assailant with it!
Now how about a You Tube video of a traffic aide ticketing a taxi obeying the laws!
There was an incident recently, caught on O'Hare/Homeland Security video camera, where a ground transportation worker, after an argument with a female driver, shoves the female cab driver after she turned away from him and knocks her down, in front of her cab and waiting passengers.
I heard the employee got a three-day suspension. I did recommend the driver get a lawyer, but she does not want to make trouble!
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
I will ask this again. When are we going to "stage an incident where a traffic aide issues a citation when a person with a disability is exiting a taxi? This is an example of where a camera is useful. Not when someones head is getting blown off. The crime is aready comitted when the camera catches it. This isn't ideal to anyone with common sense. Don't worry George L. We'll get the guy that killed you from the images eventually. We'll get justice for your family.
Shields have virtually stopped the murder of properly licensed cabs/drivers here in Chicago. Go ahead and open up the flood gates again when they are removed. I agree with Wolfgang, the only real use for cameras is to try to counter attack the assailant with it!
Now how about a You Tube video of a traffic aide ticketing a taxi obeying the laws!
I'm not saying a camera wouldn't be helpful at times. I am saying that some of us will get killed once the shields are removed. It happened before as Wolf Weiss correctly pointed out. What's better: getting mauled on camera or having a shield get in the way?
Lets set a trap or two showing the continued lawbreaking of the city police, traffic control agents, and dept. of revenue employees. Perhaps we can get media coverage and also file a lawsuit once the recorded citations get into our mailbox. By the way, Ritchie Rich will not suspend the lawbreakers, but give them a trophy for being the best of the best at ripping us off!
