A San Francisco man is frustrated at SFMTA’s response after he said he was mugged, stabbed and hospitalized — and then got a parking ticket because he wasn’t able to move his car on street cleaning day.
Anthony De Guzman said the attack happened late at night as he was getting home from work. He parked his car, checked the sign and knew he had to move it the next day.
But the stabbing happened before he made it home.
Now, along with his recovery, he’s been dealing with a citation from the SFMTA.
De Guzman was stabbed twice just steps from his front door, and he couldn’t call his family because his cell phone was stolen.
“I couldn’t contact them because my phone, my watch and my cash on me was taken,” he said.
After emergency surgery at San Francisco General Hospital, a family member moved his car. That’s when they found the ticket.
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De Guzman said he doesn’t blame the parking enforcement officer, though.
“They don’t know what happened to me,” De Guzman said. “So, if the car is out on the street, it doesn’t matter who I am, they’re gonna ticket it.”
But he did assume SFMTA would dismiss the ticket, given the life-threatening circumstances – so he was surprised to get a letter denying his request to dismiss the ticket.
A SFMTA spokesperson released a statement in response to De Guzman’s case that read, in part, “We understand that each case is different, and the system we have in place accounts for unfortunate situations like Mr. De Guzman’s. We review these protests and make a fair determination on a case-by-case basis.”
The spokesperson also said that De Guzman could file an additional appeal, but he first must pay the ticket.
“They have no empathy for any kind of situation,” De Guzman said.
De Guzman said he’s decided not to deal with the ticket. He said he has been in contact with the California Victim Compensation Board, a program aimed at helping victims with the costs incurred by crime-related injury, according to the San Francisco District Attorney’s website.
De Guzman said the board is helping him pay the $79 parking ticket.
