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| Marcel Strigberger |
Actually, this story is about Oliver Frost, about a car not taken or, rather, not returned. This Frost of Montreal had his Honda CR-V recently pinched and, to boot, a few days later he received a parking ticket in the mail for $156. He complains wondering why his car was not flagged by the police in order to enable the parking officer to know the car was hot. If it were no doubt the officer may have thought twice about ticketing the vehicle. He may have said to himself, “Hmmm. Stolen car. What to do? Then again we are talking a fire hydrant. Let the owner work it out with the thief.” Who knows?
Unfortunately, the police do not share their database with the parking guys. The RCMP fortunately decided to share this information with Interpol, an agency that has recovered many Canadian stolen vehicles worldwide. It would not surprise me to hear that the reason the RCMP opened this flow of information was that, unknown to the public, thieves were also stealing the RCMP’s famous horses. I do recall attending one of the iconic RCMP tattoos and noticed not every rider had his own horse. Some of them shared a palomino. A couple of others even galloped behind the horses. The Mounties just had to take action. (I am not sure if Interpol recovered any of the horses).
The Frost car got ticketed about seven kilometres from where it was stolen. When Frost attended the scene of the parking violation, all he saw were some broken lock pieces.
Montreal is my hometown. I don’t know where this scene was, but if I were to guess, I would say on St. Lawrence Street, in front of the world-famous Schwartz’s Deli. This place always has a queue outside waiting patiently to get in, and parking anywhere nearby is impossible. If the thief was smart, he probably said to himself, “I have the Honda, I may as well enjoy it along with a delicious smoked meat sandwich. What the heck? I have free parking.”
Frost, of course, is contesting the ticket. I cannot say how kick-ass the prosecution will be on pursuing this one. They may insist that Frost knew or should have known that his popular CR-V was a favourite amongst thieves and that, sooner or later, some rogue would steal it and park it before storing it in some cargo container at the harbour. Or the prosecutor may just think, “Hey, I don’t have a fancy car like that. Frost can afford the $156.” Or he may even say, “I always have to take public transit whenever I want to drop by Schwartz’s.” Who knows? These guys are human.
I wonder whether there will be any plea bargaining. Frost might act remorseful, showing regret for the inconvenience caused to the city resulting in the officer having to issue a ticket. Or, likely, he has a clean record. He can probably say, “I have never before had a Honda CR-V stolen.” Or he might say, “I’m starting a new job on Monday.” I don’t fully get this one, but I have seen this plea made in the criminal courts numerous times, and supposedly, it is a mitigating factor in sentencing. Maybe the judge will reduce the fine and put Frost on probation: “One more incident like this, and you’ll have to answer to me.” It's anybody’s guess.
Meanwhile, until the police share vital information about stolen cars with parking officers, this problem with ticketing will persist. Car owners will have to rely on running into some honest thieves, who might be magnanimous enough when they park to put a notice on the windshield reading, “Stolen car — please do not ticket.”
Sounds good, but I doubt too many thieves will take this road.
Marcel Strigberger retired from his Greater Toronto Area litigation practice and continues the more serious business of humorous author and speaker. For more vital musings on travel, check out his book Poutine on the Orient Express: An Irreverent Look at Travel, on Amazon (e-book) and in paper version. Visit www.marcelshumour.com. Follow him @MarcelsHumour. And FYI, expect the new book, First, Let’s Kill the Lawyer Jokes: An Attorney’s Irreverent Serious Look at the Legal Universe, to launch in the summer.
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