Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Police arrest parapalegic man for considering himself a pedestrian

Via Nancy

Larry Dodson rides his scooter to the grocery store.  (Source: Stephanie Klein-Davis / The Roanoke Times)

A wheelchair-bound man was taken to the ground face-first and handcuffed because he rode his motorized scooter on the shoulder of a road against traffic, the way pedestrians are legally supposed to. Police impounded his scooter and took him to jail.

Paralyzed from the chest down, 52-year-old Larry Wayne Dodson has limited transportation options. He said that he has used his scooter hundreds of times to take himself the short distance to the local grocery store without incident.

The law says that pedestrians are to travel on the shoulder, against traffic. This allows both the pedestrian and the oncoming vehicles to have their eyes on each other. Mr. Dodson rides this way, considering himself the same as a pedestrian.

On April 25, 2014, he was rudely informed by a local law enforcer that he is no pedestrian. Roanoke County Police Officer C.A. Jacobs stopped Mr. Dodson and told him that by the letter of the law, his scooter is considered a vehicle.

The government would prefer that he make make a near-suicidal attempt to cross 5 lanes of traffic with his scooter, than just ride along in the same manner as all other pedestrians.

4 comments:

  1. Can you imagine Sheriff Andy Taylor - - or even Barney Fife - - treating a crippled man like that?

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  2. In some nursing homes, residents use these scooters as a means of transportation
    within and outside the facility. They are not considered vehicles. More like
    motorized wheelchairs. He would not last long in traffic. Jacobs is a buffoon.

    ReplyDelete