A disabled Marine vet was arrested for using a handicapped parking space. He sued the US government

[douglas9]

A disabled U.S. Marines veteran has received a $250,000 settlement from the U.S. government after a national park park ranger allegedly used excessive force to arrest him over the use of a handicapped parking space.

Dominic Esquibel of San Diego sued the Department of Interior and the National Park Service, among others, for assault, false arrest and false imprisonment over the 2012 incident at Sequoia National Park east of Fresno, California. The civil rights case was scheduled to go to trial last week in U.S. District Court but was recently settled.

Esquibel, who received the Navy Cross for heroism during Operation Iraqi Freedom, was satisfied with the settlement, said his Fresno attorney, Nicholas "Butch" Wagner.

"He feels vindicated," Wagner said. "And he is glad this is over."

Wagner said Esquibel, who sustained major injuries to his right leg and arm during the war, did not want the arrest on his record and was determined to clear his name. Wagner said Esquibel was also injured during the arrest by the park ranger and it may have contributed additional damage to his war-related injuries.

https://taskandpurpose.com/dominic-esquibel-national-park-lawsuit

[madaboutharry]

1. This part is really rich:

“The park ranger admitted she wanted to save the space for a co-worker who was coming to replace her...”

Wow.

[tazkcmo]

2. Bad enough going to war

But then having to fight your own government when you return? This shit makes my blood boil.

[douglas9]

3. Missing Ribbon in 2014 photograh.....

Noticed he wasn't wearing the NC ribbon in the 2014 photograph and found the reason:

You know that the first thing I did was check the DoD list of Navy Cross recipients. Esquibel isn’t there, but he is at the Military Times Hall of Valor. So I wrote to our buddy, Doug Sterner and asked for a clarification. Doug says that Esquibel declined the award, probably the first recipient in history (besides Rafael Peralta’s mother), according to Sterner, because Esquibel didn’t feel right accepting the award when so many had died in the engagement, so DoD didn’t include him on their website list. But Doug says that he has the citation;

https://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=56340

[TruckFump]

4. Thank you for the info. EOM

[Karadeniz]

6. He didn't deserve this mess.

[marble falls]

5. Making park rangers cops only makes for bullying rangers and half-assed cops.

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. So, the vet HAD a proper HP placard, AND was only parking there at the request of

the ranger, to wait before entering the park till more visitors had exited, and he needed to use the restroom.

I can see why he went forward with the legal challenge to his arrest.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. According to the article he had the paperwork for the HP placard.

Not the placard itself.

My first question was why didn't he have the placard or an HP license?

There was a LTE in my local paper a couple of months ago. Someone with the HP placard hadn't brought it with her when she went somewhere, parked in a handicapped space and got a ticket. My first question to her was why didn't she keep the placard in the car? Or, if she has more than one car, in her purse at all times?

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. Hmmm. The article clearly say he DID

have both the placard for his mirror AND the paperwork to support it. But his disability was such that he could ( still) walk, so to the park employee said he didn’t “look disabled “

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Somehow I missed that.

Lots of people can walk, just not very far. And they deserve the consideration of having their HP placard honored.

[FailureToCommunicate]

11. No problem. When HP spaces were first being conceived, they were intended for mobility

impaired first and foremost. But of course lots of people with certain disabilities are as perfectly capable of getting from anywhere in a parking lots as non disabled. My father was arm-less, but walking was never a problem for instance.

But in this case, three things were pertinent: the park employee was "saving that spot" for her relief person, so there was limited parking available anyway, she had ASKED that guy and his family to wait in the parking lot, and thirdly, if the guy was zipping into use the restroom, he wasn't likely to be sitting in that HP space very long anyway.

HP space abuse does happen, we've all seen it. But we also can't necessarily see what a person's disability is, nor should we TABs ('temporarily able bodied') be too quick to judge.

I'm glad justice won out in the end for this vet.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

12. What infuriates me the most here is this

When the park employee tells him he can't park there, he responds that he is disabled and she says:

"I can see that you're not."


Exactly HOW can she "see" that ?

NOT ALL DISABILITIES ARE VISIBLE.

I have dealt with this everyday for 38 years now. I am a disabled vet (100%). You cannot see my disability. No one can see my disability. But it can take me down to my knees in the blink of an eye.

I have resisted getting an HP for just this reason. I have no patience, tact or civility for dealing with arrogant, ignorant people who think they have x-ray vision or calibrated eye-balls or some special talent for discerning disabilities. But I am beginning to have problems that may just require me to get one.

I don't know how I will deal with such people who challenge me.

[Cold War Spook]

13. I am 100% service-connected disabled.

I have a disabled veterans plate. The way I walk into a store, people don't see that I am disabled. After half an hour of grocery shopping, then they can see by the way I am walking that I am disabled. I always carry my VA healthcare ID which states I am service connected and DoD ID which states I am DAVPRM/E5 just in case.