I fought a parking ticket after my truck was left for over 24 hours – a single punctuation mark got me out of it
A WOMAN who had been wrongfully ticketed by a parking enforcement officer was able to get out of the fine due to a grammar mishap.
Parking rules can be exceedingly difficult, especially when they target specific types of cars.
Judge Robert Hendrickson took Cammelleri's side, saying that the law didn't apply to her, and let her off the hook.
He also said that if the local law wished to ban pickup trucks from parking in those spaces, the law needed to be revised to be grammatically accurate.
"By utilizing rules of grammar and employing the common meaning of terms, ‘motor vehicle camper’ has a clear definition that does not produce an absurd result," Hendrickson was recorded saying in the court documents.
"If the village desires a different reading, it should amend the ordinance and insert a comma between the phrase ‘motor vehicle’ and the word ‘camper.’"
Due to the ruling by Hendrickson, Cammelleri was then discharged from having to pay the fine for the citation.
She was also no longer responsible for the fees resulting from retrieving her pickup truck from the impound lot or towing fees.