A gay couple has filed suit against a cab company whose driver allegedly tried to eject them from his taxion the shoulder of the Kennedy Expresswayafter seeing them kiss, NBC 5 reported Aug. 28.
The lawsuit was filed last week against Sun Taxi by Matthew McCrea and Steven White.
It alleges that in May, 2013, driver Jama Anshur, not named in the suit, was commissioned by McCrea and White to drive them home from O'Hare Airport, but suddenly stopped the cab after accusing them of "making sex" in the backseat. The couple told Windy City Times in June, 2013, that they had just finished watching a YouTube video on White's phone.
"After the video, he leaned over to give me a kiss," said White. "A peck was really what it was."
"I was in shock, and I was like, 'We're not getting out of here,'" added McCrea. "I was not going to get out on the expressway, and I made that explicit to him."
McCrea and White eventually got through to police on their phone. Anshur eventually took them to a grocery store parking lot at the Cumberland exit in Park Ridge, where the couple again refused to exit until officers arrived on the scene.
After the incident took place, Anshur was fined $1,540 when he failed to show up for a hearing before the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. McCrea and White also unsuccessfully filed a complaint against Sun Taxi in October, 2013, but it was dismissed because Anshur was an independent contractor.
"It's ludicrous to suggest that a cab company is not responsible for the discrimation enacted by its drivers," Christopher Clark of Lambda Legal, who is representing the McCrea and White, told NBC 5. "They should be liable under the law for the conduct of their agents."
NBC 5's story is at bit.ly/1CdXppg .