Police say they have never seen a pattern of problems with the
the dozen taxi cab drivers permitted to operate on Morgan Hill
streets.
Police say they have never seen a pattern of problems with the the dozen taxi cab drivers permitted to operate on Morgan Hill streets.
An exception is an incident that occurred in March, when police say an Alpha Cab driver offered a free ride to a 16-year-old girl waiting for a bus outside Live Oak High School on East Main Avenue.
The girl accepted the ride from Tarandeep Singh, 21 of Hayward, and later reported to police that he tried to kidnap her. She was able to escape the car when Singh stopped at the Staples store on Cochrane Road.
The incident started about 11 a.m. March 19. After the teen reported the incident, police lured Singh back to the area where the girl escaped and arrested him.
Initially, the Santa Clara County district attorney did not press charges against Singh, and sent the case back to police for further investigation, according to D.A.’s office spokeswoman Amy Cornell.
The case is now back in court, with Singh facing three misdemeanor charges including annoying or molesting a child and false imprisonment. Singh pleaded not guilty to the charges in April. His next hearing, a pre-trial conference, is scheduled for 9 a.m. Aug. 13.
Singh is on a leave of absence from employment at Alpha Cab, and the company has agreed to take him back as a driver if he is cleared of the charges, according to his attorney Richard Pointer.
Singh was not permitted to operate a taxicab in Morgan Hill at the time of his arrest, but Sgt. Jerry Neumayer said he might have had a permit from the city of San Jose, where Alpha Cab is based.
Pointer suggested that Singh was sufficiently permitted, at least by Alpha Cab standards, when he was arrested.
“He was an employee of Alpha Cab, so whatever arrangement they had,” Pointer said. “He wouldn’t be allowed to drive if he was not properly permitted.”
Alpha Cab did not return phone calls requesting comment. San Jose Police did not return a phone call requesting verification that Singh had a taxicab permit in that city, where Alpha Cab is based.
The city of Morgan Hill’s taxicab ordinance requires any cab driver who operates on local streets to be permitted with the city. All applicants for taxicab permits must submit to a criminal background check and drug testing, and no one who has been convicted of a felony or a serious traffic offense such as DUI may be permitted.
Taxicab permits are filed at the police department. Currently 12 drivers are permitted to operate taxicabs in Morgan Hill. The South Valley Cab company, based in Morgan Hill, and Yellow Cab of San Jose are both permitted to operate in the city as well. Drivers and cab companies must have Morgan Hill permits and business licenses in order to operate in the city.
Singh did not have a permit to drive a cab in Morgan Hill at the time of his arrest or since his arrest.
Neumayer said the March 19 incident involving Singh is the first significant complaint related to cab drivers the city has dealt with.
“There’s usually only one or two cabs in Morgan Hill (at one time) and we know who they are,” Neumayer said.
Singh was in the area because he had previously picked up a client for the Paratransit program run by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Agency to give rides to elderly and disabled citizens.
The Paratransit program is contracted to Outreach, a private nonprofit company based in San Jose. Outreach Executive Director Katie Heatley said the company has an “excellent track record” that cannot be judged by one “abnormal” alleged incident.
Outreach uses its own fleet of vans, cars and drivers. It also has contracts for service with United Cab and Yellow Cab of the Peninsula, which owns Alpha Cab.
Requirements to win a contract with Outreach are “rigorous,” and in many cases are more strict than municipal permitting guidelines, Heatley said. All Outreach drivers and the companies that employ them must meet Federal Transit Administration requirements, she added.
“We have very high standards,” Heatley said. “All drivers must meet criteria for screening, training, and the behavioral pieces of this.” She added that no one who has been convicted of any misdemeanor or felony can drive for Outreach.
She said Singh had safely picked up and dropped off a Paratransit client the morning of the alleged March 19 incident. The fact that he was authorized by Yellow Cab to make such a trip indicates he likely had no “red flags” on his record.
Furthermore, she added that Outreach serves the entire county and is not a commercial enterprise. Therefore, its drivers are authorized to cross city boundaries for Paratransit clients even if the drivers are not permitted in one of the cities.
“We do 90,000 trips a month and provided service for over 30 years,” Heatley said. “We have a very good relationship with law enforcement, and we’ve never had any litigation.”
