Thursday, March 22, 2007
advertisements
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - They could have just paid the five-dollar parking fee. Instead, the state of Ohio will pay eight-thousand dollars to a Columbus parking lot attendant who was arrested by two undercover officers after he demanded they pay to park.The officers said the 2004 arrest was justified because the attendant blew their cover. They were staking out a bar as part of their work for a unit that enforces state liquor laws and said they didn't have the money to pay for parking.
The attendant, a refugee from Somalia, says he was abducted and threatened with jail.
The former head of the Ohio Investigative Unit told The Columbus Dispatch in 2005 that the attendant was doing his job and that the agents should have paid him or moved their car. They were docked a day's pay.
Source: AP, Mar 22, 2007