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ASPEN — An Aspen police officer made no qualms Tuesday that the rules of the road apply to everyone — and that includes cabbies.
Two Aspen taxi drivers — and another driver who insists he's not a cabbie — appeared in municipal court, where they faced separate citations filed by the same cop, David Thompson.
Judge Ted Gardenswartz, sitting in for the vacationing Brooke Peterson, fined all three drivers after hearing their cases and determining they all were guilty.
One cabbie, Jeffrey Johnson, who drives for High Mountain Taxi, accused Thompson of inspiring a rift between drivers and the police department.
“Are you aware of the chaos you've created between the police department and taxi drivers?” Johnson asked Thompson.
Thompson didn't get a chance to respond, as Gardenswartz deemed Johnson's question irrelevant after City Attorney Jim True's objection.
Thompson flagged Johnson for driving 38 miles per hour in a 25-mph zone on Main Street at approximately 8:40 p.m. Jan. 14. Johnson argued he was simply going with the flow of traffic, and even stopped for some pedestrians crossing Main Street before Thompson flashed his patrol vehicle lights.
“I was somewhat bewildered that I was being pulled over,” Johnson testified, adding he doesn't pay attention to his speedometer, but yields for all pedestrians and drives safely.
Johnson, who pleaded not guilty to speeding, also contended taxi drivers should be on the “same page” as the Aspen Police Department.
“We serve the public in many ways,” he said. “One is Tipsy Taxi [a publicly funded cab service that transports would-be drunken drivers to their destinations], the other is transporting people from jail. We're out there at all hours, and the officers are off by 3 in the morning.”
Thompson later countered: “It doesn't matter who you are or what you do. I believe the same laws apply to everybody.”
Thompson also added he cut Johnson a break for driving 5-9 mph over the speed limit, even though he could have charged him for driving 13 mph over the limit, which carries a higher fine and more points on a driver's license.
After reviewing police video of the incident, Gardenswartz found Johnson guilty and fined him $50. The judge gave him the option of taking an online driving class, which would result in no points being applied to Johnson's driving record. Cost of the class amounts to $130, and Johnson said he would decide later on which option to take.
The second High Mountain Taxi driver, Andrew Good, was cited by at 2 a.m. Feb. 17 by Thompson for running a stop sign at the intersection of Hopkins Avenue and Mill Street. Good pleaded guilty to the charge, but said he was “going less than 5 miles per hour” and there “were no pedestrians or cars” when he ignored the sign.
Good testified that he was in court hoping to avoid points being tacked to his driving record, and instead take the same online course offered to Johnson. However, because Good had a previous driving infraction within the last five years, he was not eligible for the course, said the judge, who fined him $75.
Good's cause wasn't helped when Thompson testified that some 45 minutes after he was ticketed, Good “displayed two middle fingers” to another Aspen officer. To Good's credit, Thompson noted, he visited the police station hours later to apologize.
The third driver, Phil Sullivan, appeared to contend a ticket for parking illegally in front of Bentley's at 12:41 a.m. Feb. 17. Sullivan argued that it's common for Aspen cabbies to park in front of Bentley's when the bars start to close.
“If you really stop to think about it,” Sullivan told the judge, “there is no place for private cars to let out people without raising the ire of police if they're in the wrong mood.”
Gardenswartz said that argument was irrelevant, and ordered Sullivan to pay a $50 fine for stationing his van in front of a no-parking sign.
Sullivan is no stranger to Aspen's traffic court system, and is under a cease-and-desist order from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to stop ferrying passengers around Aspen.
The PUC has alleged that Sullivan — who drives a Kia van with a lighted sign on its roof billing its free taxi ride — doesn't have a carrier's license or the proper insurance. The cease-and-desist order has been in place for nearly a year.
True asked Sullivan whether he referred to his operation as a taxi service, to which Sullivan replied: “I don't like [the term] and I don't go by it.”
Sullivan has been accused of taking under-the-table tips from passengers, something he did not deny in court yesterday. In fact, the morning he was ticketed for parking in front of Bentley's, the passengers he picked up from the bar gave him $50.
“They gave it to me because they said the ticket was so lame,” Sullivan told the judge.
rcaroll@aspentimes.com
Two Aspen taxi drivers — and another driver who insists he's not a cabbie — appeared in municipal court, where they faced separate citations filed by the same cop, David Thompson.
Judge Ted Gardenswartz, sitting in for the vacationing Brooke Peterson, fined all three drivers after hearing their cases and determining they all were guilty.
One cabbie, Jeffrey Johnson, who drives for High Mountain Taxi, accused Thompson of inspiring a rift between drivers and the police department.
“Are you aware of the chaos you've created between the police department and taxi drivers?” Johnson asked Thompson.
Thompson didn't get a chance to respond, as Gardenswartz deemed Johnson's question irrelevant after City Attorney Jim True's objection.
Thompson flagged Johnson for driving 38 miles per hour in a 25-mph zone on Main Street at approximately 8:40 p.m. Jan. 14. Johnson argued he was simply going with the flow of traffic, and even stopped for some pedestrians crossing Main Street before Thompson flashed his patrol vehicle lights.
“I was somewhat bewildered that I was being pulled over,” Johnson testified, adding he doesn't pay attention to his speedometer, but yields for all pedestrians and drives safely.
Johnson, who pleaded not guilty to speeding, also contended taxi drivers should be on the “same page” as the Aspen Police Department.
“We serve the public in many ways,” he said. “One is Tipsy Taxi [a publicly funded cab service that transports would-be drunken drivers to their destinations], the other is transporting people from jail. We're out there at all hours, and the officers are off by 3 in the morning.”
Thompson later countered: “It doesn't matter who you are or what you do. I believe the same laws apply to everybody.”
Thompson also added he cut Johnson a break for driving 5-9 mph over the speed limit, even though he could have charged him for driving 13 mph over the limit, which carries a higher fine and more points on a driver's license.
After reviewing police video of the incident, Gardenswartz found Johnson guilty and fined him $50. The judge gave him the option of taking an online driving class, which would result in no points being applied to Johnson's driving record. Cost of the class amounts to $130, and Johnson said he would decide later on which option to take.
The second High Mountain Taxi driver, Andrew Good, was cited by at 2 a.m. Feb. 17 by Thompson for running a stop sign at the intersection of Hopkins Avenue and Mill Street. Good pleaded guilty to the charge, but said he was “going less than 5 miles per hour” and there “were no pedestrians or cars” when he ignored the sign.
Good testified that he was in court hoping to avoid points being tacked to his driving record, and instead take the same online course offered to Johnson. However, because Good had a previous driving infraction within the last five years, he was not eligible for the course, said the judge, who fined him $75.
Good's cause wasn't helped when Thompson testified that some 45 minutes after he was ticketed, Good “displayed two middle fingers” to another Aspen officer. To Good's credit, Thompson noted, he visited the police station hours later to apologize.
The third driver, Phil Sullivan, appeared to contend a ticket for parking illegally in front of Bentley's at 12:41 a.m. Feb. 17. Sullivan argued that it's common for Aspen cabbies to park in front of Bentley's when the bars start to close.
“If you really stop to think about it,” Sullivan told the judge, “there is no place for private cars to let out people without raising the ire of police if they're in the wrong mood.”
Gardenswartz said that argument was irrelevant, and ordered Sullivan to pay a $50 fine for stationing his van in front of a no-parking sign.
Sullivan is no stranger to Aspen's traffic court system, and is under a cease-and-desist order from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to stop ferrying passengers around Aspen.
The PUC has alleged that Sullivan — who drives a Kia van with a lighted sign on its roof billing its free taxi ride — doesn't have a carrier's license or the proper insurance. The cease-and-desist order has been in place for nearly a year.
True asked Sullivan whether he referred to his operation as a taxi service, to which Sullivan replied: “I don't like [the term] and I don't go by it.”
Sullivan has been accused of taking under-the-table tips from passengers, something he did not deny in court yesterday. In fact, the morning he was ticketed for parking in front of Bentley's, the passengers he picked up from the bar gave him $50.
“They gave it to me because they said the ticket was so lame,” Sullivan told the judge.
rcaroll@aspentimes.com
