The city Taxi and Limousine Commission “concocted” evidence against an Uber driver after he kicked a smooching lesbian couple out of his car, according to a lawsuit.
A judge recently recommended Ahmad El Boutary get his license back after the TLC suspended him over accusations of homophobic treatment from passengers Emma Pichl and Alex Iovine.
Now the father of two wants unspecified damages from the TLC, which he says didn’t even try to speak with him as it launched an investigation of the June 9 incident based on news reports. He’s also demanding his license, which the commission is yet to give back.
The TLC – which even misspells his name as “El Boutari” in its records – also falsely accused him of grabbing one of the women and cursing at them, El Boutary said in his legal filing in Brooklyn federal court.
The women claimed the driver abruptly ended their bar-hopping trip after they gave each other a quick kiss, but El Boutary insists the pair were violating Uber rules by getting hot and heavy in his back seat.
The women were drunkenly “engaged in passionate kissing and they refused to stop doing so when he asked,” the driver said.
El Boutary, 36, never touched the women, Pichl and Iovine testified at a June 21 hearing, according to court papers. City administrative law judge Joycelyn McGeachy-Kuls ruled last week there wasn’t enough evidence to support the accusations of discrimination.
The city said it will review the complaint.