Wounded Warriors Ticketed $370 For Parking On Grass At Memorial Day Fundraiser
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- There are more reports of unusually expensive parking tickets at North Park.
This time, the tickets ended up on the vehicles of people attending a fundraiser for wounded veterans over Memorial Day weekend.
One of the vehicles tagged belonged to Mike Clark.
"I definitely don't think it's the way to treat people who are especially up there participating in an event for Wounded Warriors," said Clark.
Clark is a wounded warrior himself. He's a major in the Army National Guard.
He was at the park on Memorial Day, running in a charity race to raise money for other wounded warriors. He has special plates on his car, but none of that deterred Allegheny County Police.
"To block people in is just unbelievable," said Clark. "I couldn't believe it, when I walked up and had a ticket on my car."
Clark says county police officers actually blocked in a number of cars, not allowing them to leave without a parking on the grass ticket. It's a ticket that could cost nearly $400.
"They physically blocked all of the cars in, so that anybody who parked on the grass couldn't leave," Clark said.
If this story sounds familiar, it is.
KDKA was out at North Park just last week for folks complaining about nearly $400 tickets for parking on the grass at the North Park Boathouse with no signs, no warning. That was over Mother's Day weekend.
It caught the attention of Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, who was blown away by the cost of the tickets.
KDKA's Marty Griffin: "Is $370 a lot for a ticket?"
Fitzgerald: "I think it is… really a lot."
Last week, Fitzgerald said they would look at expanding the parking, look at new signs, and in the meantime, lay off the ticket writing.
As of Wednesday night, none of that has happened, and Fitzgerald is extremely upset, and so is Clark.
"I have a veteran's license plate, so they obviously knew that I was an Operation Enduring Freedom veteran. So they knew that I was there for the race," said Clark. "I really don't think that on Memorial Day they'd write a citation for somebody that was actually participating in an event to raise money for veterans."
If you'd like Marty to help you solve your problem, email him at GetMarty@kdka.com.
RELATED LINKS:
Get Marty: Man Gets $370 Ticket For Parking On County Grass (5/21/14)
Get Marty: Allegheny County Officials Re-Examining $370 Parking Fines (5/22/14)
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