Handicapped parking spots not for the disabled in Oregon
Gordon Pike, a quadriplegic since a 1969 injury while in Vietnam, found that he was not allowed to park in the disabled parking spots. The Portland Police have brought in volunteers to police parking in the city and decided to go after Mr. Pike. After arbitrarily deciding that Mr. Pike’s parking permit was not invalid they wait for him to return to his van. Upon returning to the van, the police revoked the parking permit and gave Mr. Pike a $360 fine for illegally parking in a handicapped zone. Mr. Pike tried to convince the police that as a disabled person who is permanently confined to a wheelchair, he was indeed allowed to park in the handicapped zone. The police disagreed and handed him the ticket. Mr. Pike called the police and asked if he was not allowed to use the parking spots then who was, but the police only said he was in violation of the law and that a judge had to decide the fate of the ticket. (Source KPTV.com)
Well it appears that the Portland, Oregon police department needs to be trained in what to look for when searching for a disabled person. A disabled person who can’t walk that is in a wheelchair may be a good place to start. The story did not explain why Mr. Pike’s placard was "invalid", but even if it was, handicapped spots are there for the disabled, like in a wheelchair. Duh. At this point we hope that Mr. Pike hires a good ADA attorney and sues both the police department and the city for violating his civil rights. The police did not have any compassion for someone that cannot walk and uses handicapped parking spots so he can get into stores easily. As many parts of the country, cities and counties have declared war on the handicapped in an effort to push us to the back of the bus, refuse to allow us to live where we want, and only allow certain bathrooms and drinking fountains. This sound sound familiar to anyone that knows the civil rights war that African Americans had to fight in this country in the 1950’s forward. It is obvious that the disabled have to be prepared to fight the same fight otherwise we will be second class citizens forced to lilve in ghettos and in squalor.
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Does any one feel that it isn’t right, for a company to put an object in a space to reserve a handicaaped space for an individual who is confined to a wheelchair, which is admiral if you do that for all the handicapped people at the buisness, they allow all people to fill up the handicaaped spots who have a handicaaped tag, but when there is only one spot left they save it for the guy in the wheelchair, and all other handicapped people have to park wher ever, no matter what the handicapped is, I myself have rheutoid arthritis, and bad knees, and a prostetic hip joint, so at times it is hard for me to walk long distances.