Parking In Handicapped Spots Illegally BOSTON

[mark handler]

Parking In Handicapped Spots Illegally

BOSTON (WBZ)

I-Team: Chelmsford Cop Using Plate Illegally?

(7/2/2010)

http://wbztv.com/local/handicapped.parking.iteam.2.1820371.html

Some are state employees on the clock and breaking the law, others are members of the general public.

They all have one thing in common -they're making life more difficult for the disabled.

The I-Team went undercover with the state to expose this widespread abuse and fraud.

The handicap placard dangles from Patty Lefarge's mirror but she's not disabled at all.

The I-Team found her silver Jetta parked near the Hurley building in Boston where she works for the state.

We caught her in handicapped spots and taking up meters downtown day after day.

The I-Team teamed up with the Inspector General's Office and Boston police and found many cases where the placards don't match the people behind the wheel or in the car.

STATE WORKERS AND GENERAL PUBLIC

State workers and the general public alike put it in park at meters and in handicapped spots near the Brooke Courthouse, the Charles Hurley building and Ashburton place for more than eight hours a day.

State inspector general Gregory Sullivan said, "Some are state employees, some are attorneys, people who work in the financial district. The temptation is too great and people are willing to cross the ethical, moral line to abuse their neighbors, the disabled community so they don't have to pay to park in a garage. "

PLACARD BELONGS TO DEAD PERSON

Lisa Andrews couldn't believe it when we told her the handicap placard hanging in her car belongs to a dead person.

She says a woman she gives a ride to uses this placard but the I-Team discovered the actual placard holder died in 2007.

Her passenger, the woman in question, grabbed it out of the car during our interview and took off, leaving Lisa Andrews behind.

"You stunned me, I don't have any words," Andrews said.

ABUSE OF THE SYSTEM

Anyone with a handicap placard can pull up to a meter and park all day for free.

The inspector general says abuse of the system harms the disabled community and it deprives the public of parking spaces.

AJ Monteiro suffers from polio.

He depends on his placard and a parking spot downtown to get to work everyday.

He says, "People who can walk and run should be blessed that you can and not do stupid things and cause us to have more difficulties than we already have in this world."

PENALTIES

That's why the placards from people who are using them illegally are taken away on the spot. It's lost revenue for the city, lost parking for the public and more importantly something that's a necessity for the disabled community is taken away.

Disability placard abuse is a criminal offense, it carries a $500 fine, the placard is confiscated and your license can be suspended.

The state employees we caught abusing the system worked for Health and Human Services, Workforce Development and the Department of Mental Health.

A spokesperson for Health and Human Services says they're very concerned about the allegations, and if they prove to be true they'll take swift and appropriate action.

Officials at Labor and Workforce Development say the allegations are concerning and they've referred this matter to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

 

[peach]

When I took my Dad to the store (he had a placard).. if there wasn't handicapped parking available, I dropped him at the curb and parked where I could, and didn't hang the placard. As he got older, that was more the scenario. After shopping, I'd go get his car and pick him up at the curb (yup.. in the fire lane).

Patty broke the law.. Lisa broke the law .. spank them. People like AJ and my dad suffer from these people..

 

[conarb]

Peach:

When my mother turned about 90 I became concerned about her and insisted that she get a Disabled Placard, at 97 she stopped driving because the DMV gives older people such a bad time at license renewal, I encouraged her to go for another 5 year license but she wouldn't have anything to do with them hassling her again. I started driving her and tried to get her to give me the placard so I could park right in front of the grocery store every Sunday, she would have nothing to do with it claiming that she was neither handicapped nor disabled. She asked me to park at the other end of the store parking lot, go get her a grocery cart so he could push it and use it like a walker to get to and around in the store, she claimed that it was good exercise and she didn't want or need any special treatment. Two days before she died at 101 she pushed her cart around the store parking lot on a Sunday afternoon.

When I go to Costco I see obese people riding around in those motorized carts and I think of my mother.

 

[RJJ]

These are some of the problems in America! Who would ever think of parking in a handicapped spot! But it happens every day. We see the news and wonder how our government can be so corrupt and any other adjective you can think of it come down to me first attitude!

 

[mark handler]

5 Investigates Healthy Drivers Parking In Handicapped Spaces

http://www.kpho.com/news/10326633/detail.html

It happens all the time -- the parking spaces at the mall, the restaurant or the coffee shop are all taken, but plenty of blue handicapped spots are available. For some healthy drivers, those spots are just too tempting.

Police said they hear plenty of excuses, ranging from, "I just ran in for a minute," to, "I left my certificate at home."

5 Investigates reporter Jon Baird confronted healthy drivers parking in handicapped spaces and caught their explanations on tape.

Baird said the drivers' reactions ranged from embarrassed to very defensive.

Baird approached the driver of a sport utility vehicle who had just pulled into a handicapped spot near 44th Street and Indian School Road without a placard and asked if the man knew he had taken a disabled parking spot.

"Do you have a placard?" Baird asked.

"No," the driver said.

"What are you doing?" Baird asked.

"What do you care, dude?" the driver responded.

The man started to drive away, but pulled back into the spot.

"Call the cops," he said.

"No, we were asking you why you're parking in a handicapped spot," Baird said. "Couldn't you park somewhere else?"

"Yeah I could have," the man said.

"Why didn't you?" Baird asked.

"Because I didn’t want to," the man said.

5 Investigates caught numerous drivers parking in handicapped spots without placards.

One man said he didn't have his placard with him, but told Baird he had one for his "bum knee."

Another man said his placard was at his house.

One woman said she didn't have a handicapped placard but was parked in a disabled spot so she could drop someone off.

Another man said he was using a disabled spot to wait for his wife.

One driver said his placard belonged to his wife, but he got a ticket because neither the placard nor his wife was in the car.

"You really shouldn't have parked here without her, right?" Baird said.

"Yeah, that's true," the driver said.

Phoenix police don't hesitate to write people up for parking in handicapped spots without placards.

Police said they issue up to 4,000 tickets each year for illegally parking in handicapped spaces.

Pointing out one car he'd just ticketed, Detective Walter Olsen said, "If you had a disability and wanted to come park here, you couldn't park here because this guy is parked here illegally."

The man who parked in the handicapped spot at 44th Street and Indian School Road said he thought parking spaces reserved for disabled people should be farther from store entrances. He pointed out spots reserved for carry-out customers and asked why restaurant owners don't reserve those spots for disabled people.

Detective Robert Ward said handicapped spots need to be as close to the entrance as possible so disabled people won't have to go very far. He said that was the entire point of reserved parking spaces.

"He's going to take a handicapped space away from someone who really needs it, because you feel you can't walk the extra 10 feet?" Ward said after seeing 5 Investigates tape.

Ward's son, Chase, is severely disabled and requires a van specially equipped for his wheelchair. The ramp access provided by handicapped spots is critical for Chase to get in or out of the van.

"I'll park there, then they block it, and I can't get my son in to leave," Ward said.

The man at 44th Street maintained that restaurants that reserve disabled parking spots don’t have the right to reserve additional spots for carry-out customers.

"Dude, read the law!" he shouted at Baird.

"You need to read the law," Baird replied.

"I am a paralegal, dude," the man said.

Baird showed that portion of the tape to Ward.

"Wow," Ward said. "I'm totally flabbergasted. He's a paralegal, he knows the law. And if he felt the other parking spots were not right, he should have parked it there."

Drivers parking illegally in handicapped spaces don't just deprive disabled people of vital spots; they also risk a $140 fine. In some states, the fines are much higher.

Olsen said he hopes the City Council will raise the fine in Phoenix. A vote could come soon.

 

[mark handler]

Caught On Camera: Alpharetta Cop Parked In Handicap Spot

July 22, 2010

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/24342938/detail.html

ALPHARETTA, Ga. -- The Alpharetta Police Department is investigating one of its own.

A viewer e-mailed Channel 2 Action News reporter Diana Davis photos of an Alpharetta police car parked in the handicapped zone at the QT on Milton Parkway.

Brian Davis told Davis that the officer sat there for at least 20 minutes blocking the handicapped ramp.

Brian Davis said there was no emergency and called the officer’s actions “an outrage and an arrogant abuse of power.”

Brian Davis, who had a handicapped family member, said the officer’s actions represents a lack of respect.

“The police feel like they can do what they want, how they want, and the laws they are supposed to enforce and protect and serve don’t apply to them,” said Brian Davis. He said the spaces are clearly marked and could not have been overlooked.

The Alpharetta Police Department said it has launched an internal investigation to determine the facts.

The department said it “expects its officers to set an example for the community and that such behavior is unacceptable and won’t be tolerated."

Disabled driver Chuck Elander said he has had it with folks parking in handicapped spots .

“I’m embarrassed for them that they feel they can’t walk an extra 15 or 20 feet … I mean that’s kind of pathetic,” said Elander.

Just last month, the Conyers police chief publicly apologized for parking in a handicapped spot. He fined himself $300.

Alpharetta police won’t say what, if any, punishment their officer will receive.

The maximum fine for parking in a handicapped spot is $500

 

[RJJ]

Mark you could fill this board with this stuff. Some how it has to be a personal commitment to do the right thing.

 

[mark handler]

Mark you could fill this board with this stuff.

Yes I can, it may not appear so, but I am selective on what I post and I prefer to post facts, not conspiracy theories.