Do you have a handicap plate, before I issue this ticket?
OK, then I'm saying--
I'm not handicapped. My mother is.
PARKING OFFICIAL: OK. This car is in the handicap.
So therefore, it's getting a ticket.
Where does it say that, though?
That's all I'm saying, miss.
This is the zone.
The zone is from here to here.
All these signs are up here, sir, from this zone on.
OK. I understand.
They've got these little markings.
They have the wheelchair underneath your car,
right here. Let me show you this.
OK.
When you get through talking, I guess--
we can't talk at the same time.
OK.
I see the sign right there.
But there's not one right here.
Right here.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
It's right there, but it fell over.
JESSIE: This sign was not visible.
All the other signs are visible, except this one.
So we parked here on the assumption that it was legal.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Since the wind knocked this one down today,
you said it's OK.
So let's put this back up.
JESSIE: I'm not saying it's OK.
That's what you just told me.
That's why you said you're here. JESSIE: Wait a minute.
Did I say it was OK?
Well, that's why you're here, because the wind
knocked the sign.
JESSIE: Because I did not notice anything up here.
PARKING OFFICIAL: OK, well-- OK, sir.
I'm not trying to debate with you.
Would you move the vehicle out of this handicapped zone
as I speak?
As I speak.
If not, I'm gonna have to issue the ticket.
That's why I'm ask-- JESSIE: As you speak?
PARKING OFFICIAL: I'm asking you, sir, not to--
I'm not a kid, now.
PARKING OFFICIAL: I'm asking you, sir,
will you move the vehicle?
I'm not saying you're a kid.
You're talking about "as you speak."
I'm asking you to move the vehicle, because it's
in an illegal spot.
So I'm asking you nicely, please move the vehicle or I'm
gonna have to proceed on, and then you can go to court.
I'm asking you, sir.
I'm not telling you.
I'm asking you.
Please, sir, will you move the vehicle?
Please.
So I guess you don't hear me. I'm saying please.
I'm waiting till you get through.
I'm not going to interrupt you. PARKING OFFICIAL: Oh, I'm--
I'm a grown man.
PARKING OFFICIAL: I'm sorry, sir.
I'm a grown man.
You talking to me like I'm a [BLEEP] kid.
Excuse me, sir.
[BLEEP] talking to me like I'm a [BLEEP] kid.
[BLEEP] you think I am?
PARKING OFFICIAL: I told him, ma'am.
You have to move this vehicle.
Unfortunately, the car's in the handicapped zone.
JESSIE: Just put the sign back up.
Sir, I'm not talking to you no more.
[BLEEP] you talk to me like I'm a [BLEEP] man.
Why are you cussing at me, sir?
JESSIE: Because you're disrespecting me.
I'm--
I'm not an idiot.
PARKING OFFICIAL: Sir, we're not having no more conversation.
I'm through with you.
JESSIE: What you mean, you're through with me?
I'm through with you, like I'm a [BLEEP] kid.
PARKING OFFICIAL: I'm through talking to you, sir.
JESSIE: [BLEEP].
You can call me what you want.
It ain't gonna change.
JESSIE: I'm saying [BLEEP] talking to me.
You disrespect me.
Here, put the sign back up, then.
[BLEEP]
Put the [BLEEP] back up there again.
It wasn't up there from the beginning.
PARKING OFFICIAL: It's just that I asked you to move.
Let that be known!
PARKING OFFICIAL: I asked you to move the vehicle.
[KA-CHING]
JESSIE: Let it be known that the car is unable to be moved.
Disrespectful, talking to a [BLEEP] like he a kid,
and the [BLEEP] gonna come up with that [BLEEP]..
He didn't show me any kind of respect,
cussing me out and calling me all types of names.
The car can't even cut on now, so how in the [BLEEP]
you gonna just get up and move?
PARKING OFFICIAL: The car shouldn't have
been there from the beginning.
It need a jump.
But she went on writing a ticket anyway.
PARKING OFFICIAL: But he can go to court and he can fight it.
I don't see how you're gonna pay $100 for something
that you didn't have no understanding of knowing.
JESSIE: I want to apologize for using profane language,
because I've got a mother and a wife right there in the car.
Secondly, you told me that it was all right.
And then, when the cop told you the car would not start,
then you proceeded to write the ticket.
I don't understand.
Why did you do that?
PARKING OFFICIAL: I said I'll let
you handle it in court, because I
did not talk to you like that.
We don't even need to have this conversation.
You need to step away from my vehicle, sir.
Detroit is a small city.
Believe that.
PARKING OFFICIAL: Over here, we have Robert F. Kennedy School.
This is one of those high-traffic areas where,
you know, the parents want to drop
their kids off right in front.
I see some illegally parked vehicles right over here
in front of the "No Parking Any Time" sign.
I'm sure they may be just dropping off their kids,
but this is all about safety.
The crossing guard's trying to do her job.
People want to take a right.
I mean, this is how much lane of travel that this person left.
This vehicle's right in the middle of the street.
[KA-CHING]
I'm sure they'd be upset at me.
When, in fact, they should just be upset at themselves,
because I'm not the one that parked
right in front of the sign that said "No Parking Any Time."
THOMAS: How you doing?
PARKING OFFICIAL: Good. How are you?
Why? PARKING OFFICIAL: Why?
I was here for two minutes.
Did you see the sign that you parked right in front of?
THOMAS: Yeah.
I dropped off my kids from four seconds.
PARKING OFFICIAL: But it says no parking any time.
It doesn't matter.
PARKING OFFICIAL: Oh, it does matter.
THOMAS: I'm dropping my kids off for four seconds.
PARKING OFFICIAL: Right, but it's about--
This is ridiculous.
PARKING OFFICIAL: There's traffic coming.
Some kids will just walk out behind a car.
Come on.
This is silly.
It's not silly.
I mean, this traffic is going both-- there's a reason
it says "No Parking Any Time."
THOMAS: There's a reason why there's-- wait,
there's no parking anywhere.
I'm dropping off three little kids
to school for five seconds.
Well, there is this parking on the other side.
People are hurting as it is, and this
is what you want to do.
There's no place to park anywhere.
You were in front of the sign that said "No Parking
Any Time," that's all. THOMAS: I don't care.
You know what I mean? THOMAS: It's $30.
OK. THOMAS: What's the point?
It's like-- PARKING OFFICIAL: Yep.
Well, yep. THOMAS: All right, Mr. Officer.
PARKING OFFICIAL: All right.
Take care, man.
THOMAS: I got a $30 ticket for five minutes.
It's just tough around the school.
There's no place to park as it is, so--
I can understand him being upset,
but he should be more upset with himself.
"No Parking Any Time" means no parking any time.
I'm guilty.
Unfortunately, I'll probably park there again.
Well, I'll get him again.
I'm gonna go park in a no-parking zone.
[LAUGHS]
PARKING OFFICIAL: See you, man.
He called me "Officer O'Malley."
I don't know where that came from.
I'm Johnny Tickets.
Or the newest one is Prince of Darkness.
I like Johnny Tickets better.
PARKING OFFICIAL: Sometimes, I tend to forget
how dangerous this job is.
Adrenaline starts pumping.
You start wondering if you're gonna get it
or if somebody is gonna come out.
It is always a threat of balance.
PARKING OFFICIAL: You've got to be fast.
Hopefully, fast getting away, too.
WOMAN: This one.
It's a Buick.
Well, we're trying to hurry up to get the device
on before they come out.
[CLANKS]
I'm watching his back to make sure no one runs up on him,
and I'm looking at everything around us
to make sure he's safe while he's putting the boot on.
NERO: Whoa!
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Whoa!
It could be trouble.
NERO: Whoa! WOMAN: OK.
You're being booted--
[HONKS]
That's--
WOMAN: --because you're gonna park--
This is my car.
This is my car, though.
I understand that, sir--
This is my car, though.
--but you have parking tickets, sir.
NERO: The car ain't even registered.
I just got it from the auction.
I'm waiting for my title.
This is my sister's tag.
Well, whoever you got the tags from, they owe parking tickets.
I can take the tag off.
That's not my tag.
You're gonna have had to straighten that out down
at 9th and Filbert.
This is not even a registered plate.
You cannot do that.
This car's waiting for my title.
I put that tag on it so I could wait for my title to come back.
The car is in my name.
The tag is not in my name.
WOMAN: Sir, I know.
The tag don't even go to the car.
Well, if we run the tag, it comes up--
So how do you put a boot on a car that the tag don't go to?
When we run the tags, they come up boot.
They don't come to the car, though.
Straighten that out with your sister.
But it don't come up to the car.
I understand that.
You're gonna have to straighten it out with your sister.
NERO: All right, but you all just booted my car for nothing.
PARKING OFFICIAL: Well, he's pretty agitated.
That's not my tag!
PARKING OFFICIAL: What you're gonna have--
I understand that. - They'll still tow it.
PARKING OFFICIAL: But you're gonna have to go to 9th
and Filbert and straighten that
[INAUDIBLE]
Let me explain.
If I go down there, they're going to tell me I got
to pay tickets for the tag now.
No, no--
And I ain't got a ticket on this car from that tag.
If you'll calm down, I'll explain it to you.
I watched y'all.
Y'all snuck back around the block, and then y'all just
hopped down on my car.
I was watching you, because I was about to come move it,
because I see what y'all was doing.
We didn't know your car was a hit until it
came back on the computer.
We were already up around the block.
I'm waiting for a title.
Come here, let me show you.
I just got the car from the auction.
All we can do is run the tag that's on the car.
All right, can you--
What you've got to do--
I'll explain what you got to do.
You don't have to pay anything.
Nobody's asking you to pay somebody else's ticket.
But you have to show them in the court that you bought this car.
I got to go to a courtroom and everything.
You don't have to go to a regular court.
You go down to 9th and Filbert, they'll
run the tag was on the car, they'll
see that it was not you, and they're not going to make
you pay somebody else's ticket.
Yeah, they got a little upset.
They're claiming it's not their tags.
Hopefully [INAUDIBLE] can get through and calm them down.
The car will stay here.
You have time to go get it today.
If you take care of that, you do not have to have it registered.
But you got 30 days to have a car on the street.
It says that on my paperwork.
I got 30 days [INAUDIBLE].
I understand that, and I'm not arguing that.
When y'all punched up his tag, what came up?
Look, all this shows is the license plate.
This is just a laptop computer.
It has these tags in them and whether they should be booted
or not.
But this tag is not in my name.
What he said, and I can understand,
if he's just running, he sees the tag number and no make
or model on it, he just jumps out and say boot or not boot,
so I can understand.
It ain't really him, he's doing his job.
They've jacked the system up, so to jam you up.
So you could argue with him all day,
he has no authority to do anything.
I know he don't have any authority,
it's just the plain I see--
I know, I know.
On [INAUDIBLE] Avenue we have law classes that teach you
and educate you about these situations so that you
don't have to get into them.
And if you do get into them, it costs
you zero to get out of it.
Legally, as long as you parked the car, that's fine.
But you're going to have to sometime get it registered.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
You need to get a sign on there saying, waiting for tags, make
a copy of your pink slip or whatever so that you can leave
the car on the street, but if you're
putting somebody else's tags on here,
you don't know the history of that tag.
I got boot for her tag.
For her tag.
It's a shame that she didn't say, look, I got tickets,
don't put that tag on the car.
Well, we're getting the boot on, and we're going to lock it up,
and he's going to have to get it registered.
I don't owe no parking tickets but I got a boot on my car.
There's definitely a difference
between legal and lawful, and what's happening here
is legalities, paperwork.
We have this company contracted with the city
assuming authority.
Now you have a catch-22 with this brother here.
Put the car out in the street, no plate.
We're going to take it, because it don't got a plate.
You put a plate on there, they booted it,
because unlawful display of [INAUDIBLE]..
You get the car from them, they take
it right back from you, man.
I feel bad for the guy, because he bought the car
legitimately from an auction.
But you got to get it registered.
These kind of things are a funny gray area
there needs to be worked out so that we can flourish
and build, keep them around instead
of hurting the working class.
It's hard out here for people, man.
Hi, can I help you?
My car got taken.
I've been here a couple of times before,
and I was down at traffic court about five times.
All right, do you have your release from traffic court?
I can't get released, because I can't get my registration
renewed in New Jersey.
What I'm doing today is, the judge from traffic court
said, come down here, try to set something up
where I can pay whatever fees there
are so you don't sell my car.
Actually you can't pay anything until traffic
court releases the vehicle.
Because if, for some reason, traffic court
don't release your vehicle, you're
not going to get a refund from the Parking Authority.
Let's see can I pull the paperwork
and find out what's going on.
Do you know your plate number by heart?
I don't know my plate number, that's why
I can't get my registration.
This is the whole thing, I don't have the plate number.
You didn't get a letter from us?
My house burned--
listen, my house burned down.
OK.
That's probably where you sent the mail to.
The whole reason my registration got ruined in the first place,
was because my house burned down--
What kind of car you looking for?
A red Ford Mustang.
I think it was February 6 or seven.
Let's see can I help you out here.
He don't have any information on his vehicle
so far as the tag number.
Maybe I can give him some kind of direction,
so he can get his vehicle released from traffic court.
So I'm looking for a car that was possibly towed over 30 days
ago which is kind of tough.
I'm not getting anything on this.
You can't check my name at all?
No, I can't look for a person's tag under their name.
You act like I'm supposed to have
my registration and all that stuff,
but you took all that stuff.
That's what I'm trying to tell you.
You didn't see me take it, sir.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
I understand what you saying--
They took my car, because I don't have
the registration with the tag.
Let me see something.
Hold on.
She's getting mad at, because I don't have a tag number.
But they have the tag in the car,
so how am I supposed to have it?
I'm looking in our inventory book for red, Ford New
Jersey plates for the date that he gave me,
and I'm not finding it.
They don't have any information on his vehicle,
and I can't help him if he can't help me.
It's like, this lady's getting the satisfaction
that I'm not getting out here today with this car.
Sir, I went from the fifth up the eighth.
I'm not getting the for with New Jersey plates.
OK?
But if you say 30 days, it could be sitting on the auction lot.
How long you have to get your car back?
30 days.
The bank owns my car.
I'll call the bank and tell then that you
won't give my car back. - No.
No, hold it.
You say a Traffic Court won't give you a car back.
Parking Authority is willing give your car back.
Whatever, I need my car.
I'm trying to help you.
I'm trying to do this without any information from you.
I've been going through this for a month.
If you can get in touch with your bank that
has the title to the vehicle, can they give you a VIN number,
I could find the vehicle with the VIN number.
Now I have to call the bank and tell
my bank the car's impounded which I'd rather not do.
Well, guess what?
They already know.
How'd they already know?
Because we run names on it.
But you don't even know if you have my car.
Did you understand what I just told you?
Yeah, but it's not making any sense.
We run the cars for names when they come in.
Right.
So it could very well be that the car was
taken out of our system, because the bank came and picked it up.
Who would have my file?
Maybe the bank, but it could be
at the auction department has it,
it could be that it's still here.
I don't know.
It might still be here, right?
So you can't look it up?
Sir, I can't look through every vehicle
file here to find your vehicle.
I did that with the system.
I can't keep repeating that.
You are actually holding up my line.
I'm holding up your line.
You took my car, I'm here.
Now you can't find my car, and it's my fault.
That's right.
How's it my fault?
You took my car--
You have no information.
Let me tell you something.
If your car was towed on the sixth,
it's scheduled for auction tomorrow.
So the time you're standing here fussing with me about why
I can't find your car, you should
be getting on the phone calling your bank to find
out your VIN number really.
I live seven miles away.
I've got to drive home, get my bank information
and all that stuff--
You got to do what you got to do.
I can't help you.
You have to do what you got to do.
Now I got to go make calls and all that stuff again,
everything like that.
OK, all right.
Thanks.
Next person.
Sorry for the hold up there.