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Thursday, February 16, 2012

City Ticketed Valentine Gets "Education" In Lieu of $44 Fine

Posted by Eli Sanders on Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Kruses paid street parking expired at 6:56 p.m.

Chris Kruse
Chris Kruse's paid street parking expired at 6:56 p.m. He got a ticket written for 6:57 p.m.

As many of you noted yesterday, getting a parking ticket one minute after your time has expired is rough—but, the fact is, your time has expired.

“Expired is expired," agreed William Edwards, Director of Parking Enforcement for the Seattle Police Department, when I spoke to him about the case of Chris Kruse.

Edwards did stand by his earlier statement that, in general, "we shouldn't be writing anybody tickets for one minute after." But, being ticketed for one minute after expiration is not the same as being ticketed for the very minute of expiration, so...

"I offered to him that education versus citation was a good outcome from his parking/ticketing experience, and that I was going to have a supervisor reduce the citation to a warning and cancel it out of the system," Edwards told me.

Justice?

Kruse tells me he's "satisfied," and calls Edwards "reasonable."

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Comments (16) RSS

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Implicit in this story is "and the next time you get a ticket, don't come whining to us." Hope he's smart enough to figure that out.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty

on February 16, 2012 at 6:31 AM

Just out of curiousity, do we know what time Chris Kruse got back to his car to find said ticket? 6:58? 7:03? 7:15?

If he got back in time to see the ticket in the process of being placed on his windshield, that's one thing. If he got back ten minutes after that, it seems we're discussing a theoretical nicety in search of an injustice.

I've been the victim of actual parking ticket injustice a few times (ticket agents using the wrong time, or wrong day, portable no parking work zone signs getting posted after you've legally parked, etc.). I'd like to see a little more evidence in this case.

Posted by Brooklyn Reader on February 16, 2012 at 6:48 AM

"Satisfied"? "Reasonable." What a douche. "Satisfied" implies he got what he felt he deserved. He should be appreciative and delighted, since someone went out of there way to give him a break that he didn't deserve. I don't begrudge him getting a break, but calling his benefactor "reasonable" instead of "generous" or "kind" is icky with entitlement.

I hate getting tickets as much as anyone, and I don't always return to my vehicle before my time runs out, but I don't go whining about it when I get caught. And @1 - clearly he should go whining to Slog - I am sure he has figured that much out.

Posted by Limey Rick on February 16, 2012 at 6:54 AM

Oh, he received leniency. He seems… less than grateful. Oh well, good on Mr. Edwards.

Posted by Allyn on February 16, 2012 at 7:18 AM

what a dick. he probably got back to his car at midnight and is laughing his ass off right now. whiny little entitled fuck.

Posted by tainte on February 16, 2012 at 7:18 AM

I hope he's ready for all the other people that are going to come to his office and request 'education' rather than the fine.

Will they get 'satisfaction' as well?

I also hope the parking enforcement officers have this whiny douche's car tagged.

Posted by Daniel J on February 16, 2012 at 7:36 AM

Oh good, as long as this entitled prick is "satisfied", we can all rest easy.

Posted by seandr on February 16, 2012 at 8:04 AM

I guess complaining to newspapers is the new mitigation hearing.

Posted by seattlebikeguy on February 16, 2012 at 8:15 AM

#firstworldproblems

Posted by Vancouverite on February 16, 2012 at 8:22 AM

The stupid thing about this is we have all these super smart Univac style meters...why can't it send him a text message or something 10 minutes ahead of time?

Or better yet, if he paid by credit card, just take another $2.25 out.

Or if he could pay using his ORCA card do the same.

Or...

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on February 16, 2012 at 8:24 AM

Dude traded his ticket for far more unpleasant consequences: Public shaming at the hands of the Slog scolds.
When this happens to me, I'll just take the easy way out and pay my 44 bucks.

Posted by Banjax on February 16, 2012 at 8:24 AM

It must be me, or have the meter patrols been getting more aggressive this year. After the big snow I parked in a time limited spot (on a side street in the CD where the time limitation is midnight or something that makes no sense) but the sign had been torn down. I couldn't know it was time limited. Still got the ticket. Then a week later in Wallingford got a parking ticket for parking after 5PM west of the parking sign. I got the ticket at 4:54PM, and was parked east of the sign.

I'm really attentive to the parking signs. I pay attention to time, and know the difference between east and west. Now I have two parking tickets in two weeks, for the first time in five years. What gives parking people?

Posted by SchmuckyTheCat on February 16, 2012 at 9:46 AM

@10: There are parking time limits for a reason, to force turnover. It's not simply a matter of charging more money.

Plus, credit cards don't work that way; it's a one-time transaction, for security reasons.

Posted by bigyaz on February 16, 2012 at 9:56 AM

Yes but WHEN DID HE RETURN TO THE CAR?

2 minutes after it expired?
20 minutes?
2 hours?

I agree with @2, @5, the little turd probably came back way past expiration.

Posted by Westlake, son! on February 16, 2012 at 12:19 PM

One minute after? Sounds like the parking cop who apparently follows me around Seattle.

Posted by prompt on February 16, 2012 at 12:56 PM

Wow, so much unnecessary hate for our erstwhile parker. I don't know that saying he was "satisfied" with the resolution means that he was ungrateful. What is this tendency on the internet toward unmitigated LW hate?

Just because the dude disputed his 1-minute-after-expired parking ticket? To be fair, his watch/cellphone/etc might be fast, the timer on the meter might be fast, not all clocks are synched to exact time, etc. Why y'all gotta jump on the hate bandwagon?

Posted by More, I Say! on February 16, 2012 at 2:40 PM