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Cabbie who shot robber faces gun charges
Originally ran here
as:
Despite ruling, gun charge stands
NEW HAVEN A Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that owner-operator taxi drivers are permitted to carry guns in the cab without obtaining a state pistol permit.
But Judge Lubbie Harper Jr. also refused to dismiss a weapons charge against a local cabbie who shot and killed his fare during a June 2001 robbery attempt.
"I just really wanted to know where I stand and now I know where I stand," said John Lutters, 43, a former Metro Taxi driver who shot a would-be robber who put a blade to his throat.
Authorities called the killing justified and police charged him with carrying a pistol without a permit last year.
Robert M. Berke, Lutters' attorney, had filed a motion to dismiss the charge, arguing that Lutters didn't need a permit because the state law provides exemptions for people's homes and businesses.
The question before Harper was whether a cab qualifies as a place of business.
Harper reviewed gun laws in other states as well as the legislative history of gun laws in Connecticut.
What he noted was that the local gun laws were designed to limit the number of weapons traveling in the "public sphere," but not limit the rights of property owners to protect their property.
"Though taxi cabs are mobile, that fact alone does not necessarily make them fall within the public sphere," he stated. "Therefore, as long as a cab driver can show that he has a proprietary or controlling interest in the taxi cab, the court sees no reason to treat cab drivers differently from other business owners."
Lutters leased the cab with an option to buy it, giving him at least some level of ownership interest, Harper said.
The judge denied the motion to dismiss the pistol permit charge, noting prosecutors hadn't had the opportunity to present evidence that Lutters carried the gun outside the cab at any point the day of the killing.
Berke and Assistant State's Attorney John Doyle both agreed that Lutters had placed the gun in a pack around his waist at the beginning of his shift at 1 p.m. on June 15. The shooting happened at 11 p.m. and police arrested him at 4:32 a.m. the following morning.
"Was the weapon ever outside the vehicle? No." Lutters said afterward.
Harper scheduled another hearing for June 6 for the state to present evidence. Berke said he expected the judge would dismiss the charge if the state cannot prove Lutters ever exited the car with the gun.
Lutters pulled out the gun and shot Travis Hazelwood, 38, after Hazelwood placed a pair of scissors against the driver's neck and started to cut him.
After the shooting, Lutters pulled Hazelwood out of the cab and left him on the side of the road. He drove off and disconnected his two-way radio, authorities said. Five hours later, he contacted his dispatcher center, which informed him police were looking for him.
William Kaempffer can be reached at 789-5727.
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