Disabled activist to stand trial for illegally ticketing motorists

Associated Press (via San Jose Mercury News) ^ | 19 February 2003

[CounterCounterCulture]

Disabled activist to stand trial for illegally ticketing motorists

OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) - A judge has ruled that disabled activist Mathew Lakota will stand trial for allegedly dispensing tickets to motorists who violated disabled-parking laws.

After throwing out some of the charges against Lakota Tuesday, Butte County Superior Court Judge Robert Glusman ordered him to stand trial on charges of attempted extortion and receiving stolen property, both felonies.

Chico and Oroville authorities testified at a preliminary hearing that Lakota told them he issued his own handmade tickets to unauthorized vehicles he found parked in spaces designated for the disabled.

Lakota, 49, was arrested after he ticketed three motorists and then deposited their "penalty" payments in his bank account.

Lakota maintains that he is legally allowed to dispense the tickets because they are notices of his intent to file civil suit.

"I was hoping to be back in business today," he said outside the court Tuesday.

Excerpt from: News in brief from Northern California

[CounterCounterCulture]

I'd say he doesn't have a leg to stand on [SMIRK], but I don't know the details of his disability, if he has one.

[CounterCounterCulture]

A trend?...

Protesters in San Francisco to `ticket' SUVs for fueling war (3 February 2003)

[MineralMan]

"After throwing out some of the charges against Lakota Tuesday, Butte County Superior Court Judge Robert Glusman ordered him to stand trial on charges of attempted extortion and receiving stolen property, both felonies."

His mistake was in taking money. Had he merely stuck a look-alike ticket on the car, but not asked for or demanded money, it would be a free-speech issue.

[camle]

i say bully for him. it's probably them "rules don't apply to me" democrats he's ticketing. people who can walk taking parking spaces from handicapped is low indeed. We need more people like him.

[sharktrager]

This is funny, but I sure get annoyed when I can't get a parking place in the same zip code as the store, but there are a dozen empty handicapped spaces.

I worked at a bank that, as part of a city beautification plan, bought and tore down an adjacent abandoned building. They didn't have any real use for the space, but wanted to get rid of the eyesore. The city "encouraged" the bank to use the now vacant land for an additional parking lot. When the bank complied, adding at least 50 more spots than they could ever use, the city came back and forced them to convert all of the spots in the old lot to handicapped. It seems the laws are based on a percentage of all spots, and increasing the number of spots meant more handicapped spots were required. The fact that the bank had never come close to using all the existing handicapped spots was irrelevant. In the end, the closes non-handicapped spot to the door was over 100 feet away.

Maybe there would be fewer people using handicapped spots illegally if we didn't force businesses to have more than they could ever use. the only real accomplishment of the handicapped parking laws is a way for cities to increase revenues from parking tickets.

And, for the record, my mother is handicapped and has a handicapped placard. Even she says there are way too many handicapped spots.

[templar]

.... people who can walk taking parking spaces from handicapped is low indeed.

Yeah, I know what you mean. There's a local commercial paint store here that has almost the entire front of the store taken up with handicapped parking spots, the normal spots are only about 30 or 40 yards away. The handicapped spots are always taken up by non handicapped painters that are too lazy to carry those drums of paint and equiptment the 30 or 40 yards. The poor handicapped commercial painters must have an awful time carying the stuff all the way to the non handicapped parking.

[mabelkitty]

This is funny.

What he should have done was "request payment" instead of the extortion (pay me or I'll see you in court).

Otherwise, he may have been okay since it isn't illegal to ask someone for money.

[HaveGunWillTravel]

Whenever I see all the empty, reserved spots for the handicapped it always strikes me that those who are not allowed to park in them are being handicapped. How handicapped can a person who is able to drive and go to the store be? On the rare occasion that I see one of the spaces actually occupied by a car with handicapped plates, the fact that the car in question is often a Jaguar or a Cadillac makes me wonder if they shouldn't be referred to as "advantaged" parking places. Either way, it amounts to a tremendous handicap on everyone.

[camle]

while I dig your sarcasm, don't think that there aren't disabled commercial painters. I have a friend who is disabled and a licensed contractor. I also know of another one in CT where his masonic buddies bought him a wheelchair van after he was paralyzed by a drunk driver - he still works.

that said, I'm sure there are non-commercial people that do business there as well.

I'm disabled and I shop at all sorts of HW vendors, commercial and non. And I appreciate the courtesy of obeying the law by those with better backs than mine.

one might not like the law, but how can you teach your kids to obey the law when you're taking a cafeteria approach yourself?

[jimt]

There are an awful lot of "morally handicapped" people who usurp these spots with phoney placards or no placards.

I have occasionally seen places where there are too many, as well as where there are too few, or the "morally handicapped" abuse of them.

[camle]

two points, and I'll take the last one first: You envy handiocapped people who are presperous enough to have jags, or caddys. I bet you that any of those people w=ould GIVE you the jag or caddy if they could lose tha handicap. I would gladly.

And are handicapped people not supposed to be able to drive? is being wheelchair bound handicapped enough for you? Many of these people do drive. How about one leg? How about deteriorating spines? Are you an MD who can decide whether someone is handicapped or not?

Finally, reverting back to the first point, most handicapped people want to work, and when hired are generally more loyal and dependable than non handicapped people. unfortunately, many are never given the chance to be loyal. the rate of unemployment for handicapped people is higher than any other group, so I'd say that the handicapped person with the jag or caddy is a very small minority of handicapped people indeed!

[camle]

those people should be fined. most states have high fines for using handicapped spots when not qualified, or if the permit isn't theirs. when i was married, my ex borrowed my pickup and was ticketed for parking in a handicapped spot. Even though the permit was there, it was mine, and not hers. She paid the fine, and never parked in the handicapped spaces since.

[Rebelbase]

I made up some cards that say "Lousy parking job. Please leave me a can opener so I can get in my car next time".

They get a lot of use during the shopping holidays.

[camle]

cute. great idea.

[FreeTally]

I made up some cards that say "Lousy parking job. Please leave me a can opener so I can get in my car next time".

I got one of those on my car about 8-10 years ago, but it had Mickey Mouse giving the finger and said "Nice parking, jackass" along with a certain word staring with "F" before "can opener".

[lodwick]

Sounds like Austin - we've more disabled spots than we have handicapped people.

Thanks city government - you nitwits.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I''m disabled and say screw this proliferation of handicapped spots. I don't get one nor do I need one or care to have one. There are too many in some places.

My father had MS and had good days and bad days from it (mostly bad). He had a blue sticker on his car and parked in a handicapped spot for the first time. When he came back, some Clymer had let the air out of his tire. We can only guess that somebody did it because they felt he didn't look hadicapped enough. He never parked in another one after that.

[george wythe]

You seem to have missed the point of several posters.

The current quota approach does not make sense while apportioning handicapped parking spaces.

To say that if you have 25 parking spaces, at least 2 of them should be for handicapped drivers is just malarky.

A tentative assignment should be made of handicapped parking spaces, but if the business owner submit data to the city/county indicating that the current quota does not make sense for his particular business, a waiver should be available.

The most ridiculous example I’ve seen is the Sawgrass Mills Mall in South Florida. Even at Christmas time, 80 percent of the handicapped parking spaces remain unused.

One size does not fill all, no matter what tee-shirt manufacturers say.

[FreeTally]

Many of these people do drive. How about one leg? How about deteriorating spines? Are you an MD who can decide whether someone is handicapped or not?

I have heard this defense before, and I do understand that all disabilities aren't obvious. The most common place I see abuses of HC parking is at grocery stores or malls. Too many times I have seen people who appear to not be disabled, walk around the store or mall for quite som time, showing that they obviously are not "disabled" enough to walk from the regular parking spots. I understand that wheelchairs would be a hazard going up amd down regular parking aisles, so I defintely support wheelchair bound folks being allowed "prime parking spots".

[nina0113]

I saw one that said "I hope you don't F*** like you park - you'll never get it in."