Caughtya™

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Last night, I went to get take-away at KFC. There are two mobility parking spaces at that particular venue. Both were occupied. I was gearing up to take a photo, but then I realised there were people around the cars. I decided that Shakespeare was right when he had Falstaff say "The better part of valour is discretion" (Henry the Fourth).

The thing is, these folks were gang members. A couple of them were sporting shaved heads. Another couple wearing singlets, showing heavy moko (tattoos) on their arms and shoulders. They didn't look particularly friendly.

I was reminded of the day in Chicago where I put myself behind a car parked without permit in a disability parking space at Blockbusters. I was blocking egress for the car. The driver, a BIG, mean looking guy, came out of the store. As he opened his door and I was sure he was the driver, I told him "there's a $250 fine for parking there without permit. What are you going to pay me to let you out?". He pulled a gun, pointed it at me and said "move f*cker". I moved. I moved FAST.

With that memory firmly in mind, I opted not to even say anything to them.

It's important to do advocacy and such, but it's even more important to stay safe. I used my best judgement to evaluate the situation. So should you when you're looking at capturing photos of cars parked illegally in mobility parking spaces.

Post Details:
This entry was posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009 and is filed under Drive-by. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Tags:
Advocacy, Disability, Gangs, Mobility, Parking, Safe