(WSVN) - When you take a family member or friend to the airport, you probably step out of the driver’s seat to help them unload your car, but if you do that in Fort Lauderdale, law enforcement says you are violating the law. Is it true? It’s tonight’s Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
You have probably taken someone to the airport and gotten out of the car to help them with their suitcase. Matthew has.
Matthew Zifroney: “You open the door to hug them goodbye. Everybody does that.”
Matthew was taking his daughter to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to fly back to college and did what a father does.
Matthew Zifroney: “I pop the trunk. I took one of her bags out, walked it over to the curbside, dropped the bag off. Went back to the car, got the second bag, took it out, walked that over to the curbside.”
Matthew returned to find a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy.
Matthew Zifroney: “And the officer said, ‘Why did you not respond to me when I was screaming out, ‘Who owns this car?’ And I said, ‘I’m real sorry. I didn’t hear you. I was 10 feet away, helping my daughter.'”
The reply?
Matthew Zifroney: “He said, ‘Ticket em,’ and I said, ‘Ticket me because I didn’t hear you call out for me?’ And he goes, ‘Yep, you’re being ticketed.'”
Matthew got the $79 violation for what the deputy called abandoning his car.
Matthew’s reply? He didn’t abandon his car and only carried his daughter’s two suitcases for her.
Matthew Zifroney: “I can see the car. I was not away from that car for more than 15 seconds on either one of those occasions.”
Matthew respects law enforcement and gave up.
Matthew Zifroney: “So I looked at them, and I said, ‘You know, have a nice day.'”
He then appealed the ticket and went before a Broward hearing officer.
Matthew Zifroney: “And I explained that, in the statute, it allows for me to exit the car temporarily in order to assist with the luggage. I explained that to the magistrate.”
The reply?
Matthew Zifroney: “She said, ‘Thank you. I’m confirming the ticket.’ And I said, ‘You’re confirming the ticket? I didn’t do anything wrong.’ ‘Sir, I’m confirming the ticket.'”
For three weeks, we watched traffic hearings like Matthew went to, and the people fighting the tickets got the same results he did.
Male ticketed: “I went out to help my sister. She has a disabled child. We’re getting ready to load the luggage into the car.”
Judge: “So, this is a valid ticket, sir.”
Female ticketed: “I was taking my mother’s suitcase out of the back of the car and dragging it to the curb.”
Judge: “You cannot leave the vehicle, even by one foot, to take it inside, OK?”
The hearing officer said you can’t leave the vehicle for even one foot.
At Matthew’s hearing, he responded to her rulings.
Matthew Zifroney: “I told her the system is a farce. It’s a total farce.”
Matthew thinks he’s right. Broward deputies and hearing officers think they are right.
Your turn, Howard.
Howard Finkelstein, 7News legal expert: “Let me read the ordinance. You cannot park at the curb, “except for those vehicles actively engaged in loading or unloading of passengers or luggage.” That’s what Matthew and the other people we heard did. The code seems to indicate the officers and the hearing officer are wrong and misinterpreting the code because you have a right to take the passenger and the luggage to the curb.”
We contacted the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the hearing officer. They didn’t back down.
BSO wrote officers are all “instructed to follow the ordinance” related to loading and unloading. Citations are issued “when the vehicle is left unattended” and “we cannot locate a driver.”
The hearing officer referred us to her boss, who wrote: Ellen Tillis is one of our “finest and experienced hearing officers” with many years of service and “very knowledgeable in the law.”
Matthew Zifroney: “I don’t want to see it happen to other people.”
Matthew, of course, does not think the law is being followed and wants that to change.
Matthew Zifroney: “A lot of people out there that are going to do what I did, that are doing nothing wrong, and they are going to get tickets. I’m hoping that by me speaking out, we put a stop to that.”
Now, the Broward County Commission just changed the ordinance in 2022 to allow you a reasonable amount of time to load and unload luggage, but maybe it needs to be more specific.
At MIA, you get five minutes to help your passenger, adding that might clear things up in Broward, or might not.
Carrying baggage you don’t want? Ready to unload it? Let us fly in to clear the runway for you.
With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.
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