Gay Couple Kicked Out of Taxi for Hugging
By TIM MINTON
Updated 8:16 PM EST, Thu, Nov 5, 2009
It was a typical New York story until the taxi stopped. Paul Bruno and Erick Ruales, a pair of professionals who also happen to be romantically involved, say they started kissing and hugging right after they got in the cab at 13th and 1st Avenue.
Evidently driver Medhat Mohamed was focused as much on the rear view mirror as the street. After just two blocks, the canoodling men say Mohamed said something about "no hugging" and tossed them out.
Now it's an everyday New York tale of a different kind: the complaint and investigation variety. Ruales and Bruno reported the driver to both the NYC Taxi and Limousine and Human Rights Commissions. Both are investigating.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn't wait for results before labeling the driver's actions "if as reported -- a disgrace."
Mohamed told The New York Post he was afraid the guys in the back were about to have full out sex. They deny it. While it's possible the driver might have been just as pejoratviely fixated if the couple was comprised of female riders, taxi lore is loaded with all manner of back seat romantic activity.
HBO put cameras in cabs to hear confessions for a reality show. Yet a deputy TLC commissioners says there's no record of passengers ever being ejected before because of any of it.
First Published: Nov 5, 2009 8:00 PM EST
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