Roseville Man Goes Ballistic Over Ticket For Car Running In Driveway, Sparks Debate
By George Fox - @GeorgeJFox
On a cold morning in Roseville, resident Nick Taylor, 24, drove up to his girlfriend's house and ran inside to pick her up with her two-year-old son.
He left his car running in the driveway. Instead of returning to a warm vehicle, he got a costly reminder in the form of a $128 ticket on the windshield from Roseville for leaving a vehicle unattended.
"I was there for maybe seven or eight minutes before I noticed the ticket," said Taylor, adding that he was dropping off diapers.
He ranted about it on Facebook, blaming the dip*** police for not just knocking on the door and telling him to turn off his car, and his post drew thousands of shares and angry comments, many of them on his side.
Police stand by the ticket.
"I encourage our officers to write this ticket," said Roseville Police Chief James Berlin, citing car theft as public safety concern.
"All it takes is someone to hop in this car and take off. Then there's a chase often at a high rate of speed and all that could have been prevented," Chief Berlin added, saying a remote starter includes safeguards against theft.
The Facebook post scolding Roseville Police Department for what he thought was a waste of resources has stirred a debate about the use of police time and the risks to the community.
Taylor posted a photo of the ticket with a stinging comment toward the officer involved. "Let's all take a moment to thank officer dips**t K. Keary for wasting the taxpayer's money and giving me a ticket for warming up my car in my own damn driveway."
Now he says he regrets personally slamming officer Keary. Taylor explains, "I was upset. I appreciate what they do, but don't they have better things to do?"
Even though it's easy to change what he wrote on Facebook, he doesn't want to because it's getting so much attention -- most of it positive. Taylor said lawyers have offered to represent him after seeing the trending post.
Did the cops have an ax to grind with him? "No history whatsoever," said Taylor about any past run-ins with Roseville PD.
He said he plans to fight the ticket, although after what he wrote about local cops, it's hard to believe a judge would cast a kind eye on his plea.
