Cabbie gets blamed for abandoned kid in his cab

by Miranda Holmes on July 30th, 2009 · posted in Uncategorized · No Comments

Picture this: A family arrives at the airport, takes a cab back home, unloads their baggages and then rests for the entire day.

Did you notice anything different from the story?

Now this might sound like a typical story you hear from the streets, but there’s just a teensy weensy thing different about it:

They left their sleeping 5-year-old child in the back of the minivan!

Is this the part where their supposed to say “Oh sh*t, I think I forgot something. I just can’t remember what …”

Joseph Cohen, a veteran cabbie of 39 years, picked up the family at the Logan International Airport last Sunday, drove them to their home in the city’s Mattapan neighbourhood, and even helped them unpack their luggages. He also failed to notice that there was a baby in the back sleeping!

“They paid me, thank you very much, everything was nice, and I left,” he quipped.

Minutes later after dropping the family home, Cohen received a call from the cab pool at the airport, and he was told that the state police were looking for him.

“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 to the family,” he then said. He was also given a $50 tip by the parents.

Yeah well, he only brought you back your baby so it’s no biggie. Yeah, $50 should just about cover it!

Here’s the kicker: The following day, Cohen was requested to report to the Hackney unit, where he was informed that his license was being suspended for three days because he didn’t check the van for sleeping babies. Right … So let me get this straight, the parents left the baby in his cab, he finds it and returns the baby to the parents – and his licence is revoked??

WTF??

He of course appealed the suspension and was permitted to hang on to his license pending a hearing. He visited the police station last Tuesday and was informed that he would only get a warning. The cabbies’ union expressed fury at the proposed suspension, stating that the fault should lie with the child’s family, not the driver.

I agree with the cabbies’ union, how the heck was it the cabbie’s fault?? The dad’s mind frame at the time probably went like this:

Keys to the house – check.

Baggage’s unloaded – check.

Tip the cabbie – check.

Sleeping baby – “Hurry up, the Bachelorette is on!”

FAIL.