(1) Whenever any person is apprehended for any violation of this chapter committed in connection with the operation of a taxi, the apprehending peace officer may serve upon him a citation, which citation and notice shall be in the form approved by the Taxicab Commission and shall be known as a “taxi ticket.” A “taxi ticket” shall include spaces for the name and address of the person cited, the offense charged and the time and place of its commission. Such spaces shall be filled with the appropriate information by the apprehending officer. The ticket shall also indicate the fine to be paid and a time limit for payment. If the fine is not paid within the stated time, a summons to appear before the Taxicab Commission shall be issued and, if the violation was committed in connection with the operation of a taxi, a lien may be placed against the same until the fine is paid. Upon the cited person's refusing to furnish his name and address he may be taken into custody by the apprehending officer; Provided that a peace officer shall not serve or issue a “taxi ticket” for any offense or violation except when the same is committed in his presence. For the purposes of this chapter the “Uniform Traffic Ticket” in the form prescribed by the District Court may be used by the members of the police force or taxi inspectors as “taxi tickets.”
(2) Any person willfully failing to pay a fine or appear before the Taxicab Commission as provided for in subparagraph (1) of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor triable in the Superior Court regardless of the disposition of the “taxi ticket” for which he was originally cited; Provided that a hearing officer for taxi offenses, designated by the Taxicab Commission, shall have the additional function to accept appearance, waiver of trial, plea of guilty and payment of administrative fines for violations of this subsection, hereinafter referred to as “taxi tickets,” subject to the following provisions:
(A) A member of the Taxicab Commission or the Executive Director thereof, may be designated as a hearing officer in contested cases.
(B) The Taxicab Commission shall by order, which may from time to time be amended, supplemented or repealed, designate the taxi offenses within the authority of the hearing officer; Provided that such offenses shall in no event include offenses cognizable in the District Court or violations resulting in property damage or personal injury.
(C) The Taxicab Commission, by published order to be prominently posted in the place where the fines are to be paid, shall specify by suitable schedules the amount of the fines to be imposed for first, second and subsequent offenses, designating each offense specifically in the schedules; Provided that such fines shall be within the limits declared by this chapter in section 402(g).
(D) Any person charged with a taxi offense within the authority of the hearing officer may appear in person before the hearing officer and upon signing a plea of guilty and waiver of trial, and pay the fine established for the offense charged. He shall, prior to such a plea, waiver, and payment, be informed of his right to an administrative hearing, that his signature to a plea of guilty will have the same force and effect as a court judgment, and that the record of his conviction will be sent to the Director of Motor Vehicles. A decision of the hearing officer, including his findings of facts and conclusions of law shall become final five (5) days after it is filed with the Taxicab Commission.
(3) All administrative fines collected shall be deposited into the Taxicab Commission Fund previously created by Act No. 4129. No person who has been found guilty or who has signed a plea of guilty to three previous “taxi” offenses in the current calendar year shall be permitted to appear before the hearing officer unless the Taxicab Commission shall, by general order applying to certain specified offenses, permit such appearance, conditioned upon the payment of a substantially increased fine, which increase shall be specified in such general order.
(4) The provisions of this chapter with regard to the apprehension or arrest of persons violating the same shall govern all peace officers in making arrests without a warrant for offenses committed in their presence, but the procedure prescribed herein shall not otherwise be exclusive of any method prescribed by law for the arrest and prosecution of a person for a misdemeanor.