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Two officers sustianed minor injuries when one phony hack bolted on foot and another tried to fight off his arrest, the authority’s Joe Pentangelo told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this afternoon.
Refusing to accept a ride from a hustler who offers to let you cut the line — and then charges you three to four times the usual rate — is the best way to curb the practice.
Pentangelo said the authority “would rather arrest these guys than see innocent people get ripped off.”
The authority has issued tens of thousands of summonses at city-area transportation hubs and impounded hundreds of vehicles.
Those convicted face up to 90 days in jail and/or a $1,250 fine.
Yesterday’s operation began at 2 o’clock in the afternoon and lasted until 11 last night. The basic charge against all was unlawful solicitation. Some were also charged with trespassing.
As usual, the group included repeat offenders.
One of them, 63-year-old Gasner Racine, had his red Lincoln seized and impounded after he hit the gas and drove recklessly on the Van Wyck Expressway before police caught him, Pentangelo said.
Three others were charged with additional offenses, he said.
They included Darryl Holt, 29, who took off on foot, causing an authority patrol officer a hip injury, cuts and bruises when he fell during the case, Pentangelo said.
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