Nearly seven months have passed since Mel Stewart, a cabdriver, encountered a knife-wielding city inspector at O’Hare, but he won’t give up the case. “I’ve got to stay on this, even if the city won’t,” he says. “We can’t tolerate behavior like this from a city employee, not if we plan to live in a civilized society.”
Stewart says it wasn’t the first time he’d been in a touchy situation. After all, he grew up in a rough south-side neighborhood, spent several years in the army, and has been driving a cab since 1973. But it was the first time he’d ever been confronted by a city inspector wielding a knife. “Usually I try to avoid confrontation,” he says. “I learn to look at people and tell them, ‘God loves you,’ and then get on with my life. But come on, this is different. There’s a larger issue here. This man is a city official, and he can’t come on to cabdrivers with that sort of swaggering, ‘I’m gonna tear you a new asshole’ attitude. I sat there in my cab for a minute or so, wondering what should I do. I finally decided to go and talk to him again.”
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Dankha also says he told the police everything he saw. “I gave them the information. I gave them my name and number. There were other cabbies ready to talk and be witnesses, but the police said they only needed one witness.”
Six days later Stewart received a letter from Robert Soelter, deputy commissioner of consumer services. “Please be advised that your allegations against Mr. Garcia are being taken very seriously,” Soelter wrote. “Your letter is being sent to Alexander Vroustouris, the Inspector General for the City of Chicago who is also investigating the matter….Needless to say, the City of Chicago will not tolerate inappropriate conduct from any employee.”
Without testimony from Dankha or the arresting officer, who didn’t show up either, the prosecutor moved to drop the case. “The prosecutor said, if it gets to trial you don’t have a chance of getting a conviction because you don’t have a witness,” says Stewart. “I said, ‘What about the police officer? How come he’s not required to be here?’ The prosecutor said, ‘The police officer will be reprimanded by the police department.’ I said, ‘That’s like putting a bandage on a corpse–it’s meaningless.’”
Garcia didn’t return calls for comment either, but his union defended him. “We feel the two-week punishment was appropriate,” says Peter Schmalz, regional director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “Further punishment is not warranted.” Schmalz doesn’t dispute Stewart’s contention that Garcia pulled a knife, but, he says, “Lots of people carry knives in the city of Chicago. There are lots of incidents like this. Yes, Felipe overreacted, but it was a normal human reaction. Frankly, I don’t see this as a major issue. No one was hurt. Our argument is that a healthy suspension is sufficient, but we would vigorously oppose any effort to discharge Mr. Garcia.”
