Dear Mr. Parker, County Manager, Commissioner and others:

 

The paybacks for all the pictures to Director Parker of Miami-Dade Police cruisers parked under the no parking sign continues.

 

This time the officer tries to conduct a discussion about my open door on the dangerous curve on Marlin Road going over the canal. This effort to engage me into a conversation in the moving vehicle between the cruiser and my open door was about the unsafest police tactic I can think of. This curve in the road over a canal is the worst place possible to hold a discussion in a moving vehicle. 

 

This event is less than a half mile from my business. He wants to tell me my door is open. My door is open all the time in the heat, and it is secure with a power motor and chain that can only be operated from outside. My door on both the burgundy and blue and white van is always open and secure. Especially in the heat of summer.

 

The officer then hits his lights and pulls me over. He and others that come to assist him, and others one the radio spend over a half hour trying to find a statute to charge me with.Finally, their backup on the radio finds them a statute to charge me with. I am charged with driving with my door open. Attached is a picture of my vehicle. I WAS NOT driving with the lift outside the door. The lift was inside the doorway. There was no valid reason to stop me, other than just harassment and payback time again, for the photos sent to Director Parker.

 

Now we all know that UPS drivers, Mail vehicles and the like all drive with their doors open. They, like me, have sliding doors. We even have some open vehicles that don't even have doors. But when you want to harass someone in traffic, the South Dade Metro Police are there to accommodate the general public. The three cruisers in the picture indicate that we have too many police, with not much to do in South Dade, except provoke confrontations with citizens, who have reported them for their abusive and dangerous parking behavior.

 

This is my second ticket in a few months after sending the photos to Director Parker.

 

The following day, at lunch time, visiting the restaurant, I never saw so many cruisers in front of my business. I took that as "punctuation" for the ticket the night before.

 

Meanwhile, cars and trucks continue to park under the no parking sign all day long. Police drive by, stop and eat and no tickets are written. There is an agreement not to write tickets because the customers are from the restaurant and the restaurant is a popular police eating establishment.

 

And the bollards that were long ago discussed to make it not possible to block the view of cars coming by the no parking sign. Well, that just faded into the wind. We need a bad accident, before they come and protect this no parking zone.

 

By the time the police are done, I will have to surrender my driver's license due to the tickets the police give me going and coming from work. There are not too many routes to take to escape the police. I used to have a good driving record. The police intend to muddy it up with confrontations. I call them paybacks. They will lay off for a month or two and then follow me home or to work and trump up another new charge that requires arraignment and court appearances. And the hearing officer automatically finds you guilty.

 

Welcome to the way things work in South Dade with our brave, crime fighting police officers. I am sure the harassment will continue from these dirty little cowards who know they can't get their butt kicked by someone in a wheelchair.

 

Denny R. Wood

 

cc: Media, others

Photo of Blue and White van at ticket scene

Photo of three cop cars, looking up what they can charge me with.

 
" Click On Photo To Enlarge."