http://www.kptv.com/news/19443704/detail.html
PORTLAND, Ore. -- A quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair got a $360 ticket for parking in a handicapped spot on Monday.
Gordon Pike said a volunteer enforcement team from Washington County confiscated his disabled placard after telling him the card was invalid.
Pike was hurt in Vietnam in 1969 and has been in a wheelchair ever since. He said he doesn't understand who the disabled parking spots are for if he doesn't qualify.
"(It) kind of wrecked my day," Pike said. "What are these spaces for? If they're not for me, who are they for, you know?"
Pike said he and his fiancée returned to his van to find Washington County Parking Enforcement volunteers waiting. He said the volunteers claimed his disabled placard was invalid and that it had expired.
Pike said he told them they'd made a mistake but he said they forced him to hand over his placard and then he saw a $360 ticket on his windshield.
"They were just way overzealous. There's a lot of abuse on these things but I don't think I'm the one abusing them," Pike said.
Sgt. Dave Marzilli of the Washington County Sheriff's Office said it appears that his enforcement volunteers did the right thing.
"Was It a valid citation? Yes," Marzilli said. "They checked through DMV and saw that permit matching that number was invalid and it was, so they issued a citation for it."
But Pike said it should've been obvious that he needed the parking spot. Plus, he still believes the disabled placard was valid. He said he wants the sheriff's office to take a closer look at who they use as volunteers he said they need to be more courteous.
"I don't need to be made a criminal out if this. I don't need a $360 ticket for being in a wheelchair," Pike said.
The sheriff's office said once a ticket has been written, a judge is the only person who can reduce the fine.