From the Lansing State Journal:
Tired and hungry, 56-year-old Diane Demers, who can’t afford a car, was pedaling her bike home from work on the night of July 21.
AdvertisementIt was about 11 p.m., and Demers, who lives in an apartment near Lansing’s Potter Park, was in the home stretch of her 45-minute commute.
“I was exhausted and thinking about what I would eat for dinner,” Demers said.
In an e-mail describing the incident, Demers wrote:“The River Trail, which passes through the park, is a convenient shortcut for me. But I strayed off the dark River Trail, onto the wide public roadway leading into the park.”
That’s where Demers got busted. Suddenly, she wrote, a flashlight-wielding park officer in a golf cart was ordering her to stop. She was in violation, she learned, of the park curfew, which prohibits after-dark visitors.
Budget-busterThe fine: $85.
Demers’ take-home pay for a week’s work: $140.
“This is going to take a big toll on me,” said Demers, explaining that while she hopes her part-time job soon will become full time, that’s still just a hope.
That’s not to suggest, of course, that law-breakers should be fined according to their ability to pay. It’s only to point out that officers of the law exercise discretion every day in the field. And maybe this is a case where a warning would have made more sense.
In an e-mail to me, Demers said she was “civil and polite” to the officer, but, in retrospect, thought she might have offended him by asking him to identify his jurisdiction.
According to Demers, the officer said, “I’ll ask the questions” while pointing to a patch on his uniform identifying him as a member of the Ingham County Sheriff’s Department.
Anti-vandalism measureMy inquiry to Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth was redirected to Willis Bennett, interim parks director. Bennett e-mailed me a statement that said, in part:
“The officer was instructed to ticket people in the park after hours. While it may seem a small problem to most people, it is a big deal in our park system. Vandalism after hours is not something we tolerate.”
Huh? Who said anything about vandalism? Does a 56-year-old woman on a bike fit anybody’s profile of a vandal?
Bennett continued: “We strive to have the best parks in the area, and controlling the activities in our facilities after hours is something that has to be done to continue to maintain our excellent parks.
“The law states that the officer who wrote the ticket is the only one who can cancel it, so there’s nothing I can do about the ticket personally. Once the (supervising) sergeant returns, we will meet and come to some kind of resolution …”
Destructive mischief was, Demers said, the furthest thing from her mind that night. She just wanted to get home and get something to eat.
