Man Shoots Cars Parked in Shoveled Spaces After Blizzard, Cops Say

[Arcadiasix]

A Massachusetts man faces multiple charges after allegedly shooting cars left in parking spots that had been shoveled of snow, days after two feet of snow blanketed the town.

Jose Osorio was arrested Friday after witnesses reported he fired multiple shots at two parked cars that were parked in shoveled spaces on a street in Fall River, Massachusetts.

"During the course of the investigation the fact came up that he was observed yelling and banging on doors in the neighborhood about vehicles parked out in the street," said Lt. Ronald Furtado, of the Fall River Police Department. "Additional facts came to light that he had produced a handgun and fired at two of the vehicles."

Furtado said it's reasonable to believe that Osorio had shoveled the parking spaces that were then occupied.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/man-shoots-cars-parked-shoveled-spaces-blizzard-cops/story?id=28627820

[Hari Seldon]

1. If temporary insanity was ever a defense

this might be one of those cases

[Warren Stupidity]

2. That is really stupid. Shooting the cars makes it harder to move them.

I think C4 would have been a more effective choice.

In most northeast cities you DO NOT take a shoveled residential parking space that has an appropriate claim on it: lawn chair or other obvious marker. It is an unwritten law. Doing this in an economic disaster zone like Fall River, where the residents are born into a state of despair and things go down hill from there, is just asking for trouble.

[Arcadiasix]

3. So true

[LiberalElite]

6. Couldn't you just carefully

shoot one of the less essential parts, like a fender?

[TransitJohn]

9. I'm against that. It's like saving seats at the cinema.

Unless your ticket says it's your seat, it's open. Just me, though.

[Ruby the Liberal]

10. You shovel it out, then yep, its yours

You shovel out a spot while your spouse is on the way home from work/grocery/whatever and some asshole drives over the lawn chair to park in it? Lets just say, while I don't condone it, I *get* it.

[TransitJohn]

14. So, let's just claim whatever public resource we want.

Those swings at the park, mine.

[NutmegYankee]

23. If an individual puts a lot of effort into shoveling a spot out, yes.

Let the other guy go labor for his own public spot by shoveling it out.

[Warren Stupidity]

12. Ok, but expect consequences. Unlike a random theater seat, a shoveled space was the result of the

labor of the shoveler. Yes that person has no official legal claim to the "fruits of his labor" but you are going to alienate the shit out of him by appropriating it. It is a violation of the First Law: don't be an asshole, at least not if you have a choice.

[TransitJohn]

15. yeah, but your labor doesn't give you right to claim the commons.

Otherwise, I'd go cut down some trees in the National Forest and call it mine.

[Warren Stupidity]

20. A better example would be you deciding to walk in and harvest a community garden

that you had not volunteered any labor to. Yes you can do it, no there is no law to stop you, doesn't make it right. The trees in a national forest, unless you are a logging company with a lease, are explicitly protected from cutting down. The shoveler is actually performing an unpaid community service - snow removal. Again, the shoveler has no legal claim, that does not make your decision to be a jerkasaurus ethical.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

21. I can't remember the last time I've seen one that was actually "shoveled."

Around here, some people seem to think they own a spot their car left a vaguely car-shaped bare spot in the snow.

Thankfully, Chicago streets ans Sanitation is try to put an end to it. His is from last year:

City to remove dibs materials left in parking spots

http://articles.redeyechicago.com/2014-01-07/news/45962839_1_dibs-sanitation-crews-parking-spots

Streets and Sanitation crews resumed garbage collection on Tuesday as other workers continue to clear the streets of snow.

Once the city has completed plowing the streets, debris like plastic furniture used to save parking spaces on the streets will be removed, said Molly Poppe, spokeswoman for the Streets and Sanitation department.

[chrisa]

28. Step 1: Break window

Step 2: Pull pin on grenade

Step 3: FIRE IN THE HOLE!

[bpj62]

4. Happened to me.

Years ago I parked next store to my girl friends house on a public street. The snow had fallen days earlier and multiple spots had been shoveled. When I came out to my car the neighbor confronted me and told me I had parked in his space. I politely told him it was a public space and I got in my car. Next thing I know he is knocking on my driver side window with a snub nose pistol. I pulled out as fast as possible and when I got home I called the cops. He denied he had done it. The cop gave him a yeah right buddy, but no charges were filed. People get nutty about shoveling snow but a public street is a public street.

[Jake Stern]

5. This makes me glad I turned down an invitation to live in Massachussetts

The cost was the main reason, but avoiding the apparent dickishness of the people there was lagniappe.

Of all the years lived in Colorado, during all those snowy winters, I cannot recall a time when someone whipped out a gun over a shoveled parking spot.

[mythology]

7. Having lived in both places

the parking in Massachusetts is utterly atrocious, especially compared to Colorado. The streets are already too narrow for modern cars and there are relatively few driveways, much less when there is a lot of snow.

Obviously it doesn't excuse threatening people with guns.

[Ruby the Liberal]

11. I didn't know Colorado relied on city parallel parking

like the Northeast does. Always pictured it as having a lot less people:space ratios for the overall population.

Then again, I paid $75/day to park miles from my destination the last time I was in Manhattan. Must be a frame of reference thing.

[TransitJohn]

16. Of course it does.

Want to see the street in front of my house? I have never once gotten to park in front of my house. I just got done shovelling the snow now. Doesn't mean I'm going to go terrorize my neighborhood because I'm a dick about having to shovel. It's the law that you shovel after snow.

[Ruby the Liberal]

19. It is the law that you have to shovel the street?

Thats harsh. Up here in the NE, we only have to maintain the sidewalks for public safety.

I do applaud you for shoveling out all of those parking spaces, even though you don't get to use any of them. You win.

[ScreamingMeemie]

37. Up in SE Michigan, they can punish you by things up to and including placing a lien on your home

if you do not clear the spaces (Including city-owned sidewalks and egresses) within a few days of snowfall.

[Ruby the Liberal]

42. Same here

and the fines are harsh.

What are your penalties for not shoveling out public street parking?

[ScreamingMeemie]

43. If it's in the area directly in front of your home, the same penalty applies.

Sorry I wasn't more clear. The egress includes curbside.

[Ruby the Liberal]

45. "The egress includes curbside"

Not following? You need to shovel public streets within X-inches of the curb outside your house?

Frame of reference issue for me I think. I have a garage, yet live in a city district where a radius of ~2 miles from my house is designated 'snow emergency'. You aren't off the streets by start, they tow and fine so that they can get the plows through. Parking garages are all free until 2 hours after the emergency is lifted and street parking is allowed again.

[glasshouses]

33. Not the street

I call bull on your entire post

[smirkymonkey]

18. It's funny, but I knew this was in Massachusetts before I even

opened the OP. I immediately thought it would be South Boston, but I had the right state. I live here and have seen how crazy people get over parking spaces.

[smokey nj]

8. Did he put something like a couch or a lawn chair in the spots he shoveled? I thought that was the

rule in MA.

[Orrex]

13. Guns don't kill cars.

[Arcadiasix]

36. No but they rack up some hefty repair bills.

[Orrex]

46. Why do you hate freedom?!?

[MillennialDem]

17. Better to just throw water on said cars

[etherealtruth]

22. The post snow storm parking craziness in northern cities is ...

... something you have to experience to fully understand.

People stake out "their spots," shovel them .... you will be subject to the full wrath of the "stake outers" if you dare to park in "their" space". It is also important to note that if you are at work, school etc and can't "mark your territory" you are just SOL.

[NutmegYankee]

26. Yep.

One of the reasons I will never ever again live in a city. It's so nice to come home to your own driveway each day.

[etherealtruth]

27. Well on our way to 10-12" ... happily parked in my driveway and garage

I was able to do the urban living in my early and mid 20s ... after that .... NO, NO, NO

[NutmegYankee]

29. 8-10 with ice mixed in here.

More fun for the snow blower. At least it isn't the 2 feet I had last week.

[etherealtruth]

30. The Detroit area has been spared this year (until now)

It sucks .... but, if you live in the north, you have to expect this

[tencats]

47. Where I come from we call it "Chicago Dibs"

Looks like someone here(pic) violated the 'Chicago dibs rules"
<img src= ”” >
look closely. no, closer. there you go.
(photo by diana)
more at Chicago Dibs
http://chicagodibs.tumblr.com

More.
America's Most Hated And Loved Parking Tradition Happens Each Winter In Chicago
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/15/chicago-dibs-parking-photos_n_6471978.html

[etherealtruth]

48. Oh yeah ... YOU DO NOT VIOLATE THE PARKING RULES! n/t

[B Calm]

24. Pretty crappy some lazy asshole took the space he shoveled out, but two wrongs

don't make a right!

[H. Cromwell]

25. I don't use

a gun over a 'shoveled' parking space. I re-use the shovel, and put back as much snow as possible While I shovel out a new spot. I am a firm believer in the law. I know I do Not own a street shoveled parking space, IF I happen to drive over an object that was placed into a space I previously shoveled and MY vehicle is damaged, I also know that somebody is liable for those damages.

[Faryn Balyncd]

31. 2 Texas Dog Park shootings in one weekend:

(apparently same weekend as the Massachusetts parked car shooting).


http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026164169

[glasshouses]

32. I'm an ass

I wouldn't have shot the cars but I would have spent hours burying them in snow

yup I can be very vindictive if some asshole takes my spot once I just spent an hour shoveling the snow

[TeeYiYi]

34. Glad I no longer live in the ciry...

...and, although I can understand the guy's sentiment, it really turns into a game of 'chicken.'

If the guy had been willing to sit in the space he'd shoveled, maybe he'd have had a chance (though not legally) to protect it. Even lawn chairs, wooden horses or orange cones might have held more sway to deter unwanted parkers than just leaving it unattended and open for the taking.

Actually, shovel guy has no reasonable expectation to commandeer a parking space, just because he shoveled it.

That said, he could shovel a space and then sit there until someone comes along that might be willing to pay money for it. I'm not saying it's the right thing to do but I can see it happening.

Thirty years ago, while traveling through Mexico, Central and South America, I experienced the entrepreneurial spirit of guys piling boulders behind my car and then charging a small fee to remove said boulders; and toilet paper removed from public bathrooms, sold a few squares at a time by an enterprising individual standing just outside the bathroom door...

I would, personally, be hesitant to park in the only shoveled space if there was any evidence at all that someone was attempting to save it. To park in the only shoveled space without first confirming that someone wasn't 'saving' it, would be to invite scratched paint and flattened tires.

Glad I moved to the country three years ago. Although I love living in the city, owning my own little two acre farm in the country has been wildly therapeutic.

TYY

[ileus]

35. guns shoot cars

[Arcadiasix]

38. Justice would be...arrest the guy...then tow the cars away for evidence.

Some court cases can take over a year. The police need to keep the evidence for trial don't they.

[BlueJazz]

39. I don't see much snow here in Florida but knowing how my mind works.

Shovel spot clean of snow
Get car mats
Put sharp nails in mats
paint maps and nails white
put mats in spot with nails up
Move to Florida

I'm kidding...I'm kidding...

[sweetapogee]

40. it's crazy out there

but I felt compelled to read the linked article at the op.

"Osorio faces multiple charges, including carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a firearm after being convicted of a violent crime and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling."

How much do you think his resulting summons will cost?

[Initech]

41. Because... Second amendment.

[randome]

44. I hear Google is working on a car that shoots back.

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