Handicapped Parking space dispute leads to charges (hold mah beer in mah wheelchair alert)

Ithaca Journal ^ | 12/5/02

[Behind Liberal Lines]

According to police, the dispute centered around a handicapped parking spot.

Sure sounds like these "handicapped" gentlemen were plenty healthy when it was time to pull out the guns and tire irons.

[fone]

||| Brewer was charged with second-degree menacing, a class A misdemeanor. |||

Brewer???? LOL!

[martin_fierro]

[Brewer]

It wasn't me....

[airborne]

When I go to places like Walmart or the mall, I often see all HP spaces full, so I park in the middle of two spaces, so I can unload my wheelchair. Many times people park so close that my open door comes into contact with their car. There needs to be stricter regulations for handicapped placards (at least here in PA). Doctors here will give anyone a placard, and that's all it takes is a doctor to sign for one. I get really ticked off sometimes, but never enough to pull out a shotgun.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Apparently, Brewer is a published author.

I'm guessing in the Hunter S. Thompson mode.

[jigsaw]

I often see all HP spaces full, so I park in the middle of two spaces, so I can unload my wheelchair

Interesting...thanks for writing this.

When I occassionally see a car parked in two spaces and it's not a fancy car some kid is evidently trying to protect, I sometimes wonder why the driver parked in such a way.

Now I know.

[cdefreese]

There needs to be stricter regulations for handicapped placards

I couldn't agree more. I know of a person, fully abled, fitter than most, who got one for his allergies he sometimes gets. I know of others who have gotten them from dead relatives, stolen them, and abuse them severly. I don't know if they must be renewed yearly like car license plates, but I think they should be. And while they are at it, slightly redo the design from year to year like parking decals so the abusers will be noticed easier. There is little I dislike more than people who take advantage of handicap spaces.
/rant

[jimt]

There are a large number of the morally handicapped who abuse this privilege.

[shhrubbery!]

When I occassionally see a car parked in two spaces and it's not a fancy car some kid is evidently trying to protect

When I see this, it's usually women who've parked their SUVs carelessly. Most commonly, in my observation, this occurs in crowded school parking lots where space is at a premium. My theory is they're flaunting their self-anointed entitlement. Either that, or they're crappy drivers.

Have never seen a person with a wheelchair emerge from such a parked vehicle. But if that's the case, then there's genuine entitlement.

[Geezerette]

Radio saying lately that the fine for abusing the privilege of parking in a HP is $190 here in Phoenix!

I personally know people who have placards who are not handicapped. One even told me "limp a little" when I got out of her car!! I brought up the unlawfulness of this, but she blew it off with a look that almost said, "If you don't like it, you can walk home!"

g

[FourPeas]

There needs to be stricter regulations for handicapped placards (at least here in PA)

Here in MI, too. My mother-in-law used her dead husband's for more than a year on the guise that she sometimes gives rides to senior ladies in her apartment building who couldn't walk across the narrow parking lot (but could walk around Wal*mart looking for good deals). When it expired she talked her doctor into giving her one of her own. (BTW, yes, she is a liberal.)

[stylin_geek]

My mom has one she received for her mother, who was confined to a wheelchair. Mom never used it, unless her mom was with her. Yet my mom has every excuse to have and use one, due to her having severe arthritis in both feet and knees. She voted Green in the last election.

[jimtorr]

Yes, I understand your problem. I'm not physically handicapped, and sometimes cars park so close to my door that I have to climb in the other side.

I almost never see anybody parked in handicapped spaces at the local mall in my area of Maryland. On the other hand, the handicapped spaces at the local Safeway are usually full, but I have never seen anybody getting out of or into those cars who used a wheelchair or crutches or looked anything other than physically healthy.

[FreeTally]

I don't know if they must be renewed yearly like car license plates, but I think they should be. And while they are at it, slightly redo the design from year to year like parking decals so the abusers will be noticed easier. There is little I dislike more than people who take advantage of handicap spaces.

They have to be renewed in most places as far as I know. I cant stand this abuse either. I see this crap all of the time, and I make comments out loud about it(not to the person, but I bet they can hear some times). I came out of the grocery store one day and the people who walked out before me went to a mini-van parked in a HC sopt. It was a women probably in her mid 40's and her three kids ages probably 10-16. Pretty poor example to set for your children.

I also must state a complaint that many have. At some places, there are just way too many HC parking spots to begin with. At some Wal-Marts and Targets, the first six or eight spots on every row are HC. Sometimes, because of this, I am more angry at someone who has a tag and doesn't need it(who parks in HC spaces) then people whithout them who park in the spaces because they are the only ones left.

[freedumb2003]

Just remember folks, if you see someone get out of a car with a HC card it might be you can't detect what is wrong. I am in my early 40s and appear reasonably fit, but about 6 months ago, I had a heart attack. For a few months, it would exhaust me to go more than a short distance, so I used my card and the spots. Sometimes, I would get dirtly looks from people who thought I was some sort of scofflaw. My (internal) reaction? Until you show me your MD and your full analysis of my medical condition, stay out of it.

btw Whan I didn't need it anymore, I stopped using it.

[airborne]

I have a placard for my car, or when I'm riding with someone. I also have a truck with DV plates. If I'm not getting out, just giving a ride, I don't park in a handicapped space.
I understand NY has stricter regulations on placards. After the doctor signs offf, the person must go before a review board that consists of, among others, wheelchair-bound disabled members. IMO, a much more effective system, designed to discourage abuse.

[Larry Lucido]

Why do I get this image of George Costanza being chased in an electrified wheelchair in the "Play Now" episode?

[airborne]

If 25% of all handicapped spaces were designated specifically for wheelchair users, I believe you would see some empty spaces! I often joke to my kids, "Look! All the HP spaces are full. The store must be full of wheelchairs."