« A creative way to get fired | Main | Outrageous! »
September 14, 2010
Sucka
Grafitti Boot, originally uploaded by friedmanlynn.
I do love a good prank, but I also know that if I am going to prank someone, it should not be the police. Nevertheless, some particularly bold tricksters got one over on Los Angeles's finest:
An LAPD squad car got the Denver boot Monday from who police officials called a prankster rather than an overly-aggressive parking enforcement officer.
Los Angeles firefighters were called shortly before 4:30 p.m. to the intersection of Broadway and Temple Street to remove the boot that had been placed on the "black and white" parked near the downtown criminal courts building.
The tire lock normally reserved for the vehicles of those who accumulate unpaid parking tickets was placed on the patrol car while officers were in court.
Authorities said they did not know how or when the boot was put on the patrol car.
The boot, which was placed on front driver's side wheel, had its serial numbers scratched out.
The LAPD officers who were victims of the joke were not immediately available for comment, but the scene drew an abundance of smiles and double-takes from passersby as well as law enforcement personnel from several different agencies.
I can only assume LAPD is going to have every available officer on this.
Whenever I get the boot put on my car, which sadly has been more times than I can count, I've usually had to fork over $120 for the privelige of getting my car back, which is probably not even worth $120 anymore. (Curse you, Clark/Wellington plaza!) What does the LAPD do? They got some hardcore boltcutters and snipped the thing away.
Speaking of Denver boots, Chicagoans will probably be familiar with the Dunkin Donuts at the corner of Clark and Belmont. It has a good-sized parking lot, which also has parking for The Alley and some of those other stores where I'd get murdered if I walked into them. Anywho, I was walking to the Dunkin late one night, when I saw a car pull into the parking lot and its occupants make a dash for some business that did not have parking privileges. A guy was hiding in the dark corners of the lot, and within 15 seconds he had dashed out to that car, attached a boot to it, and scuttled back to his hiding place like a hermit crab. It was really quite amazing. I wonder if those guys work on commission? I wish I had stuck around to see what happened when the driver of that car came back.
It takes a special soul to be the sort of guy who attaches boots to cars for a living. Obviously it's perfectly legal, but extremely annoying and borderline predatory. Even I wanted to clock one of the guys who booted me, and I am fairly mild-mannered. I do not envy having to tell a rageaholic that he needs to pay $100 to get his car back. Unfortunately, there are no giant metal cutters in my trunk for the next time I get booted.
By the way, the last time I got booted, which was January 2009 during a snowstorm, I took special revenge by making the boot guy run my credit card rather than give him the pleasure of watching me find an ATM while he stayed nice and toasty inside the coffee shop. You think I'm making your job easier? Eat it.
entry no. 1511
Posted at September 14, 2010 04:41 PM