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May 13, 2008
Undercover Agents Protect America from Unlicensed Taxi Menace
When 78-year-old Rosco O'Neil walked into a Winn-Dixie in Miami Gardens, Florida, he was accosted by a woman who asked if he was running a car service. He told her no, but after she persisted that she needed help getting her groceries home, agreed to give her a ride when she was finished shopping. He never brought up payment, but the woman insisted on a price.
It was a clever sting operation. After he dropped her off, police closed in, issuing him two citations and impounding his minivan, which it cost him $400 to recover, on top of $2,000 in fines.
There were no prior complaints of O'Neil providing taxi service without shelling out for official government accreditation. But these things have to be nipped in the bud, before free enterprise starts breaking out all over the place.
Let this be a lesson to Good Samaritans. No good deed not imposed by government bureauweenies goes unpunished.
Hat tip: Coyote Blog; on a tip from Burning Hot.
Posted by Van Helsing at May 13, 2008 8:06 AM
Comments
I've stopped to help people with stranded cars. I've helped them to gas stations, changed their tires, etc. More often than not, they offer me money. I've always refused, but in the future I'll wonder to myself if this isn't a sting operation, trying to catch unlicensed tow/assistance services.
As Charlie Brown would say, Good Grief!
Posted by: Lyle at May 13, 2008 8:38 AM
I am no lawyer, but this sounds like entrapment to me. Especially if she repeatedly insisted on paying him.
Just another way to punish Good Samaritans. I guess Miami Gardens has no other crimes with which to concern themselves.
Or maybe they are just going for the easy marks.
Posted by: on-the-rocks at May 13, 2008 10:27 AM
And we wonder why no one wants to help anyone anymore?
Posted by: Pam at May 13, 2008 10:35 AM
Even if he fights it (which he will) and wins (which he most likely will) he has still been "punished" by the state. He's out the $400 for the impounded van, $unknown$ for attorney fees, plus all the time and trouble he's been forced to undergo.
If he's found not-guilty, will the bureaucratic brown-shirts who persecuted him be held to account for their actions?
Not "no" but "HELL NO."
Posted by: Lyle at May 13, 2008 10:57 AM
