Judge Blocked In Woman's Car After She Parked In His Space

[matcom]

<snip>

NEW PORT RICHEY - You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger.

And you never, ever, pull into Circuit Judge Stanley Mills' parking spot.

Nichole Delameter spent all day Monday learning that lesson while cooling her flip-flops at the West Pasco Judicial Center.

Mills made Delameter sit in his courtroom for much of the morning after she parked in his reserved spot. He used his 2005 Cadillac to block in her 1990 Oldsmobile until he left at the end of the day.

Delameter , of New Port Richey, swears she thought the "reserved" sign meant it was reserved for those going to court.

"I'm very, very sorry," Delameter, 26, told a reporter. "I'll never do it again in a million, million years."

For the second time in two weeks the Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge arrived for morning court to find another vehicle in his spot. And just like last week, he pulled behind it, parking perpendicular to the offending vehicle and blocking it in.

Last week he didn't move his car, the judge said Monday, until the errant driver got this lecture in court: "There's two perks to the job," Mills said. "I have my own bathroom, and I have my own parking spot, and you're not going to get to use either."

Delameter had to sit in the judge's courtroom for more than three hours - and she had come only to give her sister a ride to a boyfriend's court hearing.

Is this an example of a judge abusing his power?

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/12/Tampabay/Judge_sentences_car_i.shtml

[Midlodemocrat]

1. I would have had his car towed for parking illegally.

Pompous asshole.

[ComerPerro]

23. don't act like the driver who took his spot isn't an asshole

[Midlodemocrat]

24. Sorry, I think it was an honest, albeit stupid mistake.

His judginess is the asshole here.

[ComerPerro]

25. nobody sees a sign that says "reserved" and assumes

that it is reserved for them, unless they are a supreme asshole.

I mean, honestly, if it were reserved for people who had a court date, wouldn't someone had parked there already?

Asshole, plain and simple

[Midlodemocrat]

28. Like I said, stupid mistake, but the judge is the asshole here.

I am kinda prickly about those signs in the first place because they have them at my daughter's elementary school for the office staff and they are completely ILLEGAL because they weren't posted by the police department.

In addition, there are absolutely NO spaces for parents. The assholes want us to park on the lawn and walk through the mud.

Yup, and my taxes pay for the privelege. It's just one example of pompous, controlling fucks doing what they want to without regard for the general public.

At the new high school my other two attend, there are roughly 20 Visitor spots right in front. It makes such a difference because you feel welcome as you go in, not as though you are intruding.

[ComerPerro]

34. Let me guess. Spaces in front of the school should be left for parents

who are dropping off or picking up their kids, eh?

Fuck the faculty, they can walk, eh?

God you are self absorbed.

You honestly think the school should provide parking for every parent who might show up at any given time?

Or just you?

[Crazy Dave]

2. Something worse happened here in my town

An off duty cop in street clothes and his regular car parks in someone's assigned parking space at an apartment complex and when the tenant asked (or told) the officer to move his car not knowing the guy was a cop, (shouldn't matter) the next thing he knows is there's twenty officers beating the crap out of him and he's in the downtown jail.

Yes, he did get a nice settlement from the city.

The cops in this town are also famous for taking people's assigned seats at sporting events and having their buddies in the stadium tell the people that they can find others seats or get kicked out of the stadium.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

3. It could have been worse...

When I was at the health food store, the general manager was forever getting in arguments with one of the managers from the hardware store next door. This guy was a complete dick, a freeper extrordinaire who used to enjoy telling everyone at the hardware store that we were all lesbians next door (only about 1/3 lesbians, but pretty much all women worked there). He had yelled random shit at me a few times in the street, as well. Anyway, as GM she had a parking spot in the hardware store's lot, instead of in the permit lot like the dept managers.

Now we were all used to them doing things like locking up the dumpsters on us (the stores shared), but after one interstore management argument, he took it to the next level. I went outside to talk to one of my delivery guys and happened to look over at the parking lot. They had gotten a shipment of MANURE in and stacked the bags all around her Element completely blocking it in. It was about a 6' TALL WALL OF MANURE surrounding her car on three sides.

When I told her what happened, I had never seen so much anger in her face and we had some AMAZING blowouts (but we actually got along swimmingly). She walked over there with her cell phone in hand warning to call the cops, if the bags weren't moved immediately and without any damage to her car. The guy claimed "it was the only spot available to put them," but he quickly found a new spot for the Fortress of Manure. I felt really bad for the poor stock guys over there though.

Definitely one of the oddest acts of Freeper stupidity I've ever witnessed.

[MrCoffee]

4. Good for the judge.

This is sure to be an unpopular opinion, but there are perks to being a judge, and one of them is the parking spot. Do you ever park in a "RESERVED" spot?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. The proper thing would be having the car towed and slapping a big fine

But no, that's not theatrical enough to satisfy the asshole's deviant punishist fetish.

[MrCoffee]

6. I'm a fan of creative sentencing.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. I'm not. -nt

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. And if he'd done that, people would bitch about the cost

and "what if the woman couldn't afford to be towed and get her car out of hock" and "what a vindictive asshole, towing the car of a woman who was proabbly pregnant and on anti-depressants and quite possibly just lost her husband to cancer" blah blah blah.

Fuck that. She parked in a reserve spot like a fucking idiot, and she got a FREE lesson, she got her car back without cost, and she got to go on with her life a little wiser, much more so than if the judge had just had her car towed away.

[oneighty]

10. Judge

behind the court house parked in a handi-cap spot closer to the entrance than his assigned spot. I parked my handi-cap car in his spot.

Dirty looks-nothing more from a total asshole judge.

In spite of mystery dressings and inflated egos and dreams of privilege judges are people too.

180

[cwydro]

7. over the top

a bit I guess, but if she didn't have to pay a towing fee and/or fine...she got off easy. I would rather sit in his courtroom than have to pay some outrageous fine/fee...:hippie:

[Lowell]

8. Two wrongs don't make a right

The woman was wrong for parking in a reserved spot. The judge was an asshole for blocking her in. They were both illegally parked and they both should have received tickets.

[Divameow77]

20. Is parking in a reserved spot illegal though?

It's not a handicapped spot, and I know that you can legally park in the "Expectant or New Mother" parking spot if your not, that's mostly a courtesy thing I think.

[Lowell]

21. Good point

No parking in a reserved spot is not illegal, but parking is such a way as to obstruct the free flow of traffic is. The judge demonstrated poor judgement.

[Xithras]

22. In most states it IS illegal.

If the lot is posted as being enforced, then people can be towed for parking in the wrong area. Where I work, we have a large lot that is clearly posted as "Staff Permit Parking Only. Violators Will Be Towed", and yet we still end up towing 2-3 cars out of there a week. Around here, once you add in the tow fees, impound fees, city fees, and everything else, you're going to be out about $300 to get your car back.

Basically, parking lots are the property of whoever owns the land (in this case, the government agency). When they put in a parking lot, they are giving you permission to park in the spots they designate. If you park somewhere else, it's like trespassing. In fact, parking in a "Reserved" spot is legally the equivalent of parking your car on the courthouse lawn. It's not a matter of whether or not the reserved sign is legal, it's a question of you parking your car in a place that isn't designated for public parking.

[Midlodemocrat]

27. I was going to say the same thing. Here, at the elementary school

they have 'Reserved' everywhere. Decidely NOT legal. So, I park there whenever I want to. I figure that the 'Reserved' is for me, the taxpayer.

[Xithras]

30. Ummm...did you read my post?

Those reserved signs ARE legal. You can be towed for doing that. Just because your taxes paid for it, doesn't mean you get to park there. Legally, the property belongs to the government agency, and they are permitted to define which parking is public, and which is private. If it isn't marked as a public parking space, parking there is no different than parking on a sidewalk from a legal standpoint. You parked where no public parking spot exists.

[Midlodemocrat]

31. I did. But I neglected one thing.

Here, if the sign isn't posted by the police department or the DOT, it isn't legal. Anyone can park in the spot.

We do exert the courtesy not to most of the time, but it is decidely legal to do so and decidely illegal to block you in.

[Xithras]

38. I seriously doubt that.

That's undoubtably true on public streets, but if I put a parking lot on the side of my house it's still MY property, and you're still trespassing if you park there without permission. Asphalt and painted lines don't override property rights. In the case of a government owned parking lot, the government agency owns the lot and can determine which are public and which are reserved for government use. I suspect that if you confirmed this with a police officer, you'd find that I'm right.

Either that or your state has some of the most whacked property rights laws in the country :shrug:

[Midlodemocrat]

39. LOL. A police officer is the one who told me in the first place.

Public property such as public schools needs an official sign from either the DOT or the Police Dept.

That's what I was talking about. Not private property.

[ComerPerro]

36. Don't you get it? Its ok if some people do it,

just not other people.

the poster probably thinks that the signs don't apply to them, because they are, gasp, a taxpayer...

Makes me want to start selling parking spaces in their driveway

[Midlodemocrat]

43. Um, a sign erected by just anyone is just that, a sign erected by

just anyone.

Reserved doesn't mean shit here unless it is put up by the Police Department.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Momgonepostal]

11. Good for him!

I actually did this a couple of times when I lived in an apartment complex in a very crowded neighborhood. We had one parking place and there was a little street parking, but it was almost always filled. The only reason I didn't do it more often is that my car was wider than the parking place, so I blocked someone else when I parked perpendicular to my space.

Why do some people think they are such VIPs that they don't have follow parking rules?

[skygazer]

12. And blocking a car in is following parking rules how?

I agree that the woman was a moran for thinking "reserved" meant she could park there. But the judge was abusing his authority by blocking her in and making her sit around all day. He could have just had her car towed. This was vengeance, not justice. I don't really like the idea of judges who enjoy dispensing vengeance...

[Momgonepostal]

17. I agree that what he did wasn't any more legal...

and that he should have been ticketed, too. I also think her fine of $10 was so piddly that it really wouldn't act as much of a deterant. She really got off pretty easy. He certainly could have towed her, but getting her car out of impound would have probably cost her a lot more money, and been AT LEAST as inconvenient, so whether it's what SHE would have preferred is debatable.

[Midlodemocrat]

18. Last time I looked, "Reserved" wasn't a 'legal' term like

the terminology for "handicapped parking".

I would have had his car towed. In a NY minute.

[ComerPerro]

26. i park in handicapped spots. its an honest mistake

My ankle is kinda sore, so I assume the handicapped spot is for me.

:sarcasm:

[Midlodemocrat]

29. Not the same thing at all and you know it.

According to a police officer friend of mine, if the 'Reserved' sign hasn't been posted by the Police Department or the DOT, it doesn't mean squat.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Isn't double parking illegal?

[Blue_Tires]

42. that was my question as well

[sakabatou]

15. Couldn't he get it fixed so the space says:

"Reserved for Judge?"

[petronius]

16. Blocking her in for a while would send a message,

But this part

While Mills was still working, his judicial assistant kept moving the Cadillac to let other judges get in and out of their spots. But Delameter's car was still stuck.

really puts it over the top. For the judge to send his assistant out to move the car for other people while keeping her trapped is vindictive and unacceptable. I hope whoever has oversight over judges is looking at this...

[Richard Steele]

37. I agree. When he brought the assistant into it, it became an abuse.

Is that what the tax dollars that pay that assistant
are supposed to be used for?
I don't THINK so.

Two wrongs don't make a right; both the driver and the Judge
are in the wrong in this case.

[SoyCat]

19. My mother used to block a certain person's car because she insisted upon

parking in my mom's assigned space at the townhouse complex where both my mom and her mom lived. No one at the office would do anything about it and residents were not allowed to have vehicles towed. After getting her car blocked twice, she apologized and never did it again.

[ComerPerro]

32. I've done that before too

I have to pay for that space, and I am not gonna lose it to some shithead.

[SoyCat]

33. There is a time to be nice and a time to teach someone a lesson!

[underpants]

40. BREAKING-Video shows adviser of North Charleston mayor keying councilman's

http://www.fox21.com/Global/story.asp?S=5386597&nav=2KPp
Video shows adviser of North Charleston mayor keying councilman's car

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. Police say a video shows an adviser for North Charleston's mayor scratched the bumper of a councilman's vehicle with a key.

Councilman Bob King called police five weeks ago when his sports utility vehicle was keyed two days in a row. He was parked in North Charleston Ombudsman James Bell's marked spot while Bell was off duty.

Police asked King to park his vehicle in the same space again Thursday while video was rolling. Police say less than 30 minutes later, Bell could be seen with keys in his hand, scratching the rear of the S-U-V.

Bell has been charged with malicious injury to personal property, a misdemeanor.

[underpants]

41. Yes we have VIDEO!

http://www.wcsc.com/news/state/3899171.html