Officials Call for Stricter Measures Against Bandit Cabs

Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke called Tuesday for a countywide crackdown on bandit taxis and Los Angeles city officials said they intend to increase their enforcement after the collision of a Blue Line train and an unlicensed cab in which six people died.

The county coroner’s office identified the last of six bodies found in the wreckage of the unlicensed cab, whose driver apparently tried to beat a train across the tracks Saturday night. She was Gabriela Maciel, 33, of Compton, who has been described as the girlfriend of driver Romaldo Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, who had two convictions for drunk driving, was driving an unlicensed cab on a suspended driver’s license when he picked up three brothers and a young woman at a party in Compton. Everyone in the cab died when it was crushed by the southbound train at Greenleaf Boulevard.

Compton city officials also announced a crackdown on bandit taxis.

As a result of the accident, Compton Police Lt. Danny Sneed said, the city “has taken a zero tolerance policy toward bandit cabs, and we are stopping and citing bandit cabs.” He said police cited 15 unlicensed cabs Sunday and Monday.

He also criticized Main City Taxi, whose officials said they had legitimately dispatched a cab to pick up people at the party in Compton late Saturday, only to find that Gonzalez had beaten the driver there. Main City Taxi is not licensed in Compton, Sneed said, and shouldn’t have taken the call in the first place.

Burke introduced a motion to the Board of Supervisors citing the dangers of bandit taxis, and calling on the Los Angeles County sheriff to tell the board how his department can crack down on the unlicensed cabs.

She also called for reports from the county counsel and treasurer-tax collector on licensing and enforcement procedures for cabs in the county.

The Los Angeles city Department of Transportation is planning a crackdown on bandit cabs beginning Jan. 1, after it receives new powers under a measure passed recently by the state Legislature, investigators told the Los Angeles Police Commission. The measure will give police powers to Department of Transportation investigators and authorize them to impound unlicensed taxis.

However, the city has only four field investigators enforcing its taxi regulations, so any crackdown will be limited, Los Angeles Police Lt. Gary Stromlund said.

Stromlund said city investigators, working with local law enforcement agencies, cited 656 illegal cabdrivers between January 1997 and June 1999.