NEW YORK – Taxi inspectors "may have exhibited poor judgment" when they handcuffed CBS News veteran Mike Wallace (search) — and one of the arresting inspectors wasn't properly qualified to have used handcuffs, city officials admitted yesterday.
A summons accusing Wallace of disorderly conduct will not be prosecuted, said a statement by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (search).
Although the TLC's public statement said only that its inspectors "may have" erred, Wallace said TLC chairman Matthew Daus (search) did not equivocate in apologizing personally for the Aug. 10 incident.
"He was apologetic — that is the only way to characterize it," Wallace told The Post. "He felt bad about it."
Wallace said that as far as he's concerned, the incident is over.
"People have suggested suing and so forth," he said. "I have no intention of doing that. I don't want to. We will see how it proceeds from here."
One of the arresting inspectors, Keefe Roman, is among about 40 TLC agents — including 36 new inspectors — who lack "special patrolman" status, a Police Department designation that allows them to make arrests and write Criminal Court summonses such as the one issued to Wallace.
The special-patrolman status Roman had acquired working as a Department of Homeless Services cop had expired, authorities said.
Nonetheless, he was allowed to patrol the streets as a TLC inspector with Mace, a baton and handcuffs.
"At a minimum, these inspectors will receive official warnings and will be re-instructed by supervisors with regard to the use of appropriate procedures," the TLC statement said.
The TLC issued yesterday's statement after several days of inquiries from The Post about the special-patrolman status of its officers.
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