Man gets ticket outside dialysis clinic

[okarol]

Man gets ticket outside dialysis clinic

Published: Jan. 10, 2008 at 4:40 PM

NEW YORK, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- An elderly man is challenging a traffic ticket incurred in New York when he double parked to pick up his ailing wife from a dialysis clinic.

Eugene Iannicelli, 84, said he attempted to explain the details of the situation to the officer, but was offered no sympathy, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

"My wife is legally blind, can't walk, and is totally disabled," Iannicelli told the Daily News.

"For this meter maid to stand there and write me a ticket as I help her into the car -- I call that cruel," he said.

Iannicelli said there were no open parking spots at the Dyker Heights Dialysis Center when he was picking up his wife, Mary, 83, on Dec. 19.

"What was I supposed to do?" he asked. "There were no empty spaces and if she doesn't get this treatment she could die."

"I am angry. How can anyone be so heartless?" Mary Iannicelli said Wednesday. "This is a lot of money and all we are asking for is a little consideration."

The couple said they plan to fight the ticket in court.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/01/10/man_gets_ticket_outside_dialysis_clinic/6027/

[okarol]

No skirting traffic rules, judge tells blind patient's husband

by Matthew Lysiak
daily news writer

Thursday, February 7th 2008, 4:00 AM

An elderly Brooklyn man slapped with a $115 parking ticket while picking up his blind wife from a dialysis clinic just got slapped again - this time by a judge, the Daily News has learned.

"These people are a nightmare," said Eugene Iannicelli, 84, who got the fine Dec. 19 after he couldn't find a parking spot near the Dyker Heights building where his wife Mary, 83, undergoes kidney dialysis. "Don't they have a heart?"

Just as Iannicelli double-parked near the center to escort his frail wife to the car, a traffic enforcement agent rolled up and wrote a summons.

The couple appealed the ticket, but Wednesday found out the city's bureaucracy could be just as cold as the heartless traffic agent.

City administrative law Judge Irwin Strum wrote that Iannicelli tried to "justify his conduct by reference to his wife's medical condition. ... While the moral obligation of a husband to an infirm wife is recognized, it is not a legal basis to excuse an individual's obligation to obey the New York Traffic Rules."

One good thing did come out of the Iannicellis' plight. City Councilman Vince Gentile (D-Bay Ridge) will today be joined by New Yorkers who read The News' story and plan to chip in to pay the fine.

"My office was flooded with calls from people, all strangers to the Iannicellis, but nonetheless outraged over how the city was treating an elderly couple trying their best to help each other through life," Gentile said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/02/07/2008-02-07_no_skirting_traffic_rules_judge_tells_bl-1.html?ref=rss

[CW]

Meter maids suck!

But at least I can finally say I am proud of what the people in my hometown have done for once. GO BROOKLYN!! 

[Joe Paul]

Glad people chipped in to pay that fine. Wonder why that clinic doesn't have a pick-up zone for patients for times like this.

[KT0930]

They need to go on that TLC (or is it A&E?) show "Parking Wars".

[Adam_W]

Oh Geeze people are so stupid! It's not like the guy set out to deliberately disobey the laws. He was simply trying help his wife. What is so wrong with that! Exceptions for situations like that should be made. And the judge flat out saying that he basically didn't give a shit about the lady's medical condition, and couldn't make an exception for this one little time the traffic law was broken. Some people have hearts as black as coal. It is good however that the people are helping the couple pay the fine.

Adam