West Tisbury selectmen voted this week to suspend a taxi driver’s permit for two weeks, following a complaint of an incident over the summer involving an alleged racial epithet.

Alpha Taxi owner Benoit Baldwin will have his permit suspended for 14 days beginning July 22.

The complaint against Mr. Baldwin was filed in early August by Kyle Newell, a driver working for Bluefish Taxi. In the complaint, he described an alleged incident that took place in the taxi queue at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport. Among other things Mr. Newell claimed that Mr. Baldwin used an ethnic slur against him after there was some argument over a swap of vehicles in the taxi line. The complaint was filed with the Martha’s Vineyard airport manager, the West Tisbury police and town selectmen.

Selectmen held a hearing on the matter during their regular meeting on Wednesday. Mr. Newell, who has since moved off the Island, participated by speaker phone. Mr. Baldwin did not attend.

Town administrator Jennifer Rand told the board that she had sent two letters to Mr. Baldwin, one in August and one in October, asking Mr. Baldwin to respond to the complaint. A third letter and also an email were sent to Mr. Baldwin notifying him of the hearing Wednesday, Ms. Rand said. The letters were sent by certified mail. The letters were received, and there was no indication that the email was read or not, she said.

Mr. Newell said his written complaint is a true representation of what happened, in his opinion.

“I’m at a loss for words because it was so long ago and I still think about it to this day,” he said. “It’s such a nasty thing.”

Town taxi regulations stipulate that cab operators must “conduct themselves in a courteous and professional manner at all times.” If the regulations are not adhered to, the selectmen have the right to revoke or suspend a permit. If an incident endangers public safety, the police may suspend the permit. The police did not consider the incident a matter of public safety, Ms. Rand said.

“I would certainly believe there would be some sort of suspension in order here,” said selectman Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter 3rd. “I think the suspension should almost reflect the time of year the offense took place.”

Selectman Cynthia Mitchell pointed out the suspension would affect Mr. Baldwin’s right to drive one of his cabs, but not his cab business as a whole.

“Two weeks in the height of the summer is, I suppose, a lot — I think this is serious,” Mrs. Mitchell said. “Whatever time frame or period, I agree he should have a suspension of his permit. And he should know that if anything like this happens again, that we’ll consider revoking.”

Taxi licenses are renewed every April, and permits are authorized by the police department. Selectmen said they could not recall ever suspending a taxi permit.

Ms. Rand said she will send Mr. Baldwin a letter by certified mail notifying him of the suspension.