By James Barron, The New York Times
he incident that led to a disorderly conduct charge for the “60 Minutes” correspondent Mike Wallace on Tuesday night gave New Yorkers a glimpse of one of the smallest law enforcement cadres in the city. But it is a force that looms large for taxi and limousine drivers.
The agents who took Mr. Wallace to the 19th Precinct station house, on East 67th Street, work for the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission. They had been questioning Mr. Wallace’s driver, who had double-parked outside a restaurant on Third Avenue near 79th Street while Mr. Wallace was picking up a takeout order. Mr. Wallace’s exchange of words with one of the agents became the stuff of tabloid headlines.
The commission’s 165 inspectors call themselves “New York’s proudest” in the way that the Police Department is known as “New York’s finest” and the Fire Department as “New York’s bravest.” But the inspectors are peace officers, meaning they do not carry guns and are rarely involved in making arrests or filing charges with the police.
Their mission is to enforce the taxi commission’s rules and regulations, but among taxi and limousine drivers, the inspectors are notorious for issuing tickets for seemingly trivial violations, said Dan Ackman, a lawyer who has represented several drivers in challenging license revocations and suspensions.
“They are feared,” he said. “Every time you talk to a taxi driver, they will tell you how horrible the judges and the inspectors are.”
Mr. Wallace’s car, which he said was paid for by CBS, was from a car service licensed by the taxi commission. And when Mr. Wallace emerged with his order of meatloaf from the restaurant, Luke’s Bar and Grill, he found the inspectors questioning the driver, Keefe Roman.
Mr. Wallace, 86, said he got into the car, then got out again to speak to the agents himself. “I figured, ‘Come on, the meatloaf’s going to get cold, let’s go home,’ ” Mr. Wallace said, in an interview yesterday.
He said that he addressed the inspectors politely, but that one of them barked, “Get back in the car.” Mr. Wallace said he remained polite but had “a couple of questions.” He said the inspector who had spoken harshly told him that he could end up in trouble if he remained outside the car.
“Suddenly, one of them came behind me and put my arm behind my back in a hammerlock,” Mr. Wallace said.
The New York Post quoted a spokesman for the commission, Allan J. Fromberg, as saying that Mr. Wallace “was observed to be overly assertive” and “lunged” at the inspectors - comments Mr. Fromberg backed away from yesterday after the commission began investigating the incident.
“I was sharing certain details that were made available to me through the chain of command,” Mr. Fromberg said yesterday. “The more accurate answer is, now that we’ve commenced an investigation, that is what the investigation will ultimately determine.”
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, asked about the incident during a news conference in Brooklyn, said he was mystified.
“Why a man in his 80’s was so threatening that they had to arrest him when they normally don’t arrest anybody certainly gives you cause to ask the question,” Mr. Bloomberg said.
“But until we get all the facts, there’s nothing else that I can say.” He said he knew Mr. Wallace casually, “and I’ve never thought of him as a particularly threatening person.”
David Pollack, a taxi driver and the executive director of the Committee for Taxi Safety, an organization that represents taxi leasing agents, pointed out that most taxi inspectors do not abuse their powers.
“There’s a minority of police officers and T.L.C. inspectors who maybe use their badge a little too heavily,” he said. “The fact is, this is the stuff drivers live with every day.”
For his part, Mr. Wallace was still seething about the incident yesterday, particularly about the agent who ordered him back into the car. The commission did not release the agents’ names.
“I’ve seldom seen as angry a man as that guy,” Mr. Wallace said. “This guy could have been a killer. This is a very angry man. I think he needs therapy.”
Michael Luo contributed reporting for this article.