A Michigan man is given a parking ticket for leaving his car unintended in his own driveway. The car owner went inside for a few minutes after starting his car and letting it warm up.
It was a parking ticket in his front yard, not a “running your car w/o you in it” ticket.
The state of Michigan is not exactly known for its balmy weather this time of year.
And residents reasonably do what they have to do to cope with often extreme winter temperatures.
Last Thursday a man named Taylor Trupiano of Roseville, Michigan did what a lot of people do in cold climates.
He walked out of his house, started his car, turned on the heat, and went back inside for a few minutes while his engine and vehicle interior warmed up.
According to Mr. Trupiano, he was only inside for about 7 or 8 minutes.
But by the time he came back to his car, there was already a parking ticket on his windshield– with a fine totaling $128.
Some local police officer had apparently driven by, noticed the vehicle was unattended, written up this heinous infraction, and left.
There are so many things wrong with this picture it’s hard to know where to begin.
First off, the citation that Mr. Trupiano received was a parking ticket. Yet his car was parked on his own private property.
Let that sink in: this man received a parking ticket while his car was parked on his own property.
You can’t even park your car on your own property anymore without being in violation of some series of laws, rules, or local ordinances.
The city government’s reasoning is that, if you leave a vehicle unattended, it may encourage car thieves to steal it.
This is pretty flimsy logic.
Sure, maybe if a car thief is standing right there he/she may take the opportunity.
But it’s not like some lowlife felon is going to turn the other cheek and stop stealing cars just because there are no unattended vehicles with the keys in the ignition.
Criminals bent on theft are going to steal no matter what, just like some murderous thug in Chicago is going to find a gun and kill people regardless of local firearm regulations.
When the story broke on local news, Roseville’s Police Chief told reporters that his department is unapologetic about issuing the citation to Mr. Trupiano.
Sounding like a man who cares more about statistics than actually catching criminals, the Chief claimed that 5-10 unattended vehicles are stolen every winter, which “drives our crime rates up.”