BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A local female taxi operator is claiming that she is being targeted by a female member of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force (RSCNPF) for no apparent reason and had lodged a formal complaint against her.
Annie Fontaine – owner of TA222 – has been a taxi operator for a number of years and in her explanation to SKNVibes, noted that in recent times a specific Constable of the police force seems to have hatched some sort of plan to frustrate her.
Fontaine said she has had several run-ins with Constable (name provided) which she said were unwarranted and were initiated by the officer.
The most recent of these occurred on Thursday, September 27, 2012. And according to Fontaine, she entered The Circus looking for a parking space when she was approached by the officer.
“I had a dental appointment for one o’clock and it was cancelled. So, as a taxi driver, I came in the taxi area to park. All the slots in the taxi parking area in The Circus were filled; so I went around the Berkley Memorial twice waiting for someone to come out of a space. While I was doing that, I pulled up close on the side where Royal Bank and First Caribbean Bank are. Officer (name provided) come over to me and said this is not a double parking area. I was not double parked or was I obstructing traffic or anything like that. My husband – who is also a taxi driver - came over and told me, just to avoid her, I should drive around.”
Fontaine said she drove onto the Bay Road and went around the roundabout just in front of RAMS and was making her way back up Fort Street when she realised all the parking slots were still occupied.
She then proceeded “to pull-up alongside the parked vehicles”.
“And at the same time, a taxi driver who was parked in one of the slots – Albert Millington – told me he was coming out and asked me if I wanted the spot. So I said yes. As he began getting into his vehicle and I was getting ready to reverse to let him out, Officer (name provided) came and told me, ‘I don’t want to see you going around the roundabout anymore.’ I got really offended! I couldn’t believe the words that she uttered to me. Millington even spoke to the officer telling her that he was vacating his spot so that I could get it. And she said she didn’t care.
“She kept saying she didn’t want to see me around there. I asked her if she was crazy and I pointed at the taxi sign and asked her if she wanted me to fall out of the sky to park. However, the guy came out and I went in the slot and came out of my vehicle. I was so appalled that my rights as a citizen of this country were being breached. I have been here in this country for 37 years.”
The frustrated taxi operator explained that she loudly expressed her displeasure with the officer’s action but was careful not to be disrespectful to her.
“If I were in some way breaking the law, why didn’t she give me a ticket? If I were breaking the law she had every right to give me a ticket. So why didn’t she fine me a ticket”, Fontaine questioned.
Fontaine said that she spoke with the Commissioner of Police on the following day concerning the incident and he advised her to lodge a complaint with the Complaints Department of the RSCNPF.
The Press and Public Information Officer of the RSCNPF, Inspector Lyndon David, was questioned by this publication about Fontaine’s report and he confirmed that it was indeed lodged with the police and that the matter is being investigated.
What was even more disconcerting to Fontaine – as she expressed – was that while at the Basseterre Police Station filing her complaint, a boisterous and disruptive Constable (name provided) barged into the room claiming that she had a complaint to make.
Fontaine said she indicated to the officer who was taking her report that she would speak no further on the incident until the Constable was asked to leave the room, which she did.
The taxi operator indicated that she instructed the officer to include the Constable’s interruption in her statement.
By her count, Fontaine was harassed by the Constable on approximately five occasions. And in recalling another of these incidents, she explained that she was at Port Zante with another taxi driver about two weeks prior to the current incident.
“Another situation occurred at Port Zante where another female taxi driver and I were in the same area. Two males passed and the other taxi driver began speaking with them, trying to get them to do an hour tour and, at the same time, a lady walked up to the officer and she told her she wanted a taxi. The Constable - even though she saw that the other taxi operator was engaged - approached her and told her that the lady wanted a taxi, and I was right there standing.
“The lady was waiting for 15 minutes while the other taxi driver was dealing with the two men. And afterwards, she took the lady…all while I was standing there available to attend to the lady. Less than two minutes after she went with the lady, she came back without the lady. I asked her where the lady was and she asked me if I am the only person who wants a job…”
In an attempt to know the reason for the Woman Constable’s behaviour towards her, Fontaine said, “I really cannot figure it out. I have never done anything to that woman, so I don’t know what she has against me…she has failed miserably as a law enforcement agent.”
