Feed the meter and get fined? Not quite, city says
EUGENE, Ore. -- Was a Good Samaritan fined hundreds of dollars in Eugene for feeding meters for other motorists in downtown Eugene?
KVAL News received e-mails from viewers asking about reports that a man was fined hundreds of dollars for putting change in other people's parking meters in Downtown Eugene.
Efforts to locate the man in question turned up only a P.O. Box. | Contact KVAL News
But city police and parking officials shared their side of the story:
Melinda Kletzok with the Eugene Police Department said officers cited Benjamin Bond on suspicion of Harassment and Obstructing a Government Agency. Police were called to the scene because the meter enforcement officer felt she was being harassed -- not because Bond was plugging meters full of money, Kletzok said.
Kletzok said a parking control officer was in the middle of writing a parking citation when Bond came up and put money in the meter.
The parking officer continued writing the citation anyway and put it on the car.
The parking officer told city police Bond got upset, got in his car and followed the officer for several blocks while screaming out the window.
The officer called police, who arrived and cited Bond.
City Manager Jon Ruiz issued a statement on the incident Thursday afternoon.
"The parking control officer has worked dutifully in this job for 12 years," he wrote. "In those years, she has rarely, if ever, felt her safety to be in jeopardy like she felt yesterday. I personally spoke with her this morning and she was still upset and visibly shaken by the encounter. It is wrong and intolerable for any City employee to be intimidated, threatened and prevented from doing his or her work on behalf of City of Eugene citizens."
But wasn't the guy just doing another driver a favor by feeding the meter?
Laura Hammond, the community outreach coordinator with the City's Parking Services Department, told KVAL News while you're not supposed to plug other people's meters in Eugene, their officers do not enforce it.
She said parking and meter officials ticket cars, not people.
