ABC-7 Listens: When can a person with disabled parking permit still get ticketed for where they park?

ABC-7 Listens looks into why some disabled El Pasoans with permits appear to be getting ticketed for where they park.

“When I went to Vietnam, we got involved in some agent orange,” said Charles Miller, a disabled veteran with a handicap parking permit. “And my kidney went out, All kinds of things are going out like that. So therefore, we park in the areas where it’s not so difficult.”

Miller says for years, he and several others with disabled parking permits have been parking in a striped area at the Sam’s Club off of Lee Trevino, but that it only recently became a problem when he got a $275 ticket last weekend.

Others also were ticketed for doing what has become common practice for them, Miller said.

“Handicapped parking comes in different shapes and sizes,” said El Paso Police spokesman Sgt. Robert Gomez. He says enforcement and penalties are set by City ordinance.

Handicap parking spots have those striped, no-parking areas near them because different specialty vehicles require extra room to have wheelchairs accessible, Gomez said.

The striped area at the Sam’s Club doesn’t have signage specifically stating it’s a no parking area.

Gomez said El Paso Police don’t usually focus on parking violations.

“Officers, in general, on patrol if they observe a parking violation, will issue citations for various parking enforcement – parking violations,” Gomez said.

If you have any questions about how much certain violations cost and what to do about them, click on the parking citations link under Links Mentioned on the home page of kvia.com.