Loser of the week

[Piglet 0]

This event should be an American Civics lesson.

1. The meter maid was "only following orders"

2. The police refuse to comment about it.

3. The police union says it has no idea what happened but supports its

members "100%."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal...local-headlines

ISSUING TICKET GETS CITY AGENT CUFFED

Police come close to hauling away enforcer after dispute over

consultant's permit By Gus G. Sentementes

Sun Staff Originally published July 18, 2005, 9:05 PM EDT

Donna L. Evans says she was just doing her job as a parking control

agent when she wrote a citation for a car she thought was illegally

parked. Then the unthinkable happened: She got handcuffed by police.

Evans said she wrote a $42 ticket for a car parked during

street-cleaning hours in the 1300 block of W. Pratt St. She said the

car's driver complained to her, then to a nearby police officer,

claiming that an official city parking permit displayed in the back

window allowed him to park without fear of being ticketed.

Then, Evans said, the officer called for backup.

According to Evans, a police sergeant came and ordered her to void the

ticket. When Evans refused, the sergeant ordered another officer to

handcuff her and called for a police transport van to take the uniformed

agent to the Central Booking and Intake Center, she said. Police

supervisors intervened before she was taken away, and she was freed 10

minutes later, she said.

"It was definitely very emotional," said Evans, whose supervisors rushed

to the scene and demanded answers, to no avail.

"They didn't understand how I was being locked up for issuing [someone]

a citation," said Evans, who has retained an attorney, Warren A. Brown.

"We're searching out our options," Brown said Monday. "She doesn't want

to lose her job, but at the same token, she feels what was done to her

was wrong."

Evans, a three-year employee, said the officers never explained to her

or her supervisors why she was cuffed or what charges she faced.

The agent gave her account of the incident, which occurred Thursday,

during an interview with a Sun reporter Sunday. Monday, Evans, a

35-year-old mother of three children and a Waverly resident, said she

was ordered by her boss not to speak further about the incident.

Evans said the person she ticketed, George C. Grimes Jr. of Glen Burnie,

appeared to know one of the officers and the sergeant because they

called him by his first name.

Grimes is a consultant for the city and says he had a work zone permit.

He declined to discuss Thursday's incident.

Evans said she had to issue the ticket to Grimes because only official

vehicles, such as police cars, are excluded from being ticketed on a

street designated for cleaning.

Matt Jablow, a police spokesman, said Monday the department could not

comment on the incident because it was under investigation by its

internal affairs division. He identified the officers involved as Sgt.

Chris M. Kirhagis, 53, Agent Raymond Woodward III, 36, and Officer

Dustin Schappell, 31.

Reached Monday, Kirhagis declined to comment. The other two officers

could not be reached for comment. The three remain on active duty.

The police union president, Lt. Frederick V. Roussey, said he did not

have details on the incident but added that his organization would

support the three officers "100 percent." He said there have been

regular clashes between police officers and parking control agents in

the past, particularly over the ticketing of both marked and unmarked

police cars.

"It's an unfortunate situation," Roussey said. "But there's always been

strained relations between the police and parking people."

David Brown, a spokesman for the city Department of Transportation,

whose Safety Division employs 58 parking control agents, declined to

comment on whether Evans issued the ticket appropriately. Evans was not

charged with any crime.

"The incident is still under investigation," Brown said. "We're taking a

look at our policies and procedures to determine if any should be changed."

Evans said that she and other parking control agents have had tense

encounters with citizens in the past over parking tickets. On one

occasion, an irate motorist ran over her foot. On other occasions, she

has been yelled at and spat upon by angry motorists.

"It's just ridiculous," Evans said. "They curse us out all day long.

It's a lot to go through. It's stressful."