Police Say Worker Attacked for Writing Parking Ticket

Boston, MA (WorkersCompensation.com) – A city worker is recovering this week after police say he was violently attacked after giving the suspect a parking ticket.

The Boston parking enforcement worker was working on Hartwell Street on Feb. 2 around 1:20 a.m. The victim told police he had received a complaint for an illegally parked car and as he was tagging the vehicle, a man came out of 4 Hartwell Street and told him to “get the (expletive) out of here, tag someone else’s car.”

and ticketed an illegally parked car. In response, Kenneth Vandergrift, the vehicle’s owner, attacked the worker, police said.

Police said Kenneth Vandergift, the vehicle’s owner, attacked the worker. According to police reports, the attacker “took the victim’s department-issued radio microphone off his shoulder and began hitting him with it. The man was kicking and punching him on the ground and kept stomping on him, which caused him to become dizzy.”

At one point, the report said, Vandergrift motioned toward his waistline and said, “how do you know I ain’t got a gun on me, I’ll shoot your ass.”

Reports said the worker suffered severe injuries to his face, including cuts to his lips and left hand, head injuries and having his left eye swollen shut.

Police said Vandergift dropped his ID at the scene of the attack. He was later spotted at Biff’s Lounge near the attack, police reports said. Police were called to the bar and found Vandergrift trying to get his cell phone back from the bar after staff had kicked him out.

Police noticed a fresh cut above Vandergrift’s left eye. While Vandergrift alleged it was from staff at the bar throwing him to the ground, staff members said his eye injury did not happen at the bar. Medics responded to Biff’s and evaluated Vandergrift’s injury, but he declined medical attention. Police arrested him and charged him with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a person aged 60 over, one count of assault and battery on a person aged 60 or over causing serious injury and one count of threatening to commit a crime, records show. He pleaded not guilty and was ordered held on $500 bail. His next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 28, records show.

The victim was taken to Boston Medical Center and treated for his injuries, officials said. No indication was given on the worker’s current condition.

Police and union representatives for parking enforcement workers said the attack was not surprising.

"These men and women endure verbal and physical assaults on a regular basis simply for doing their jobs," Jim Durkin of AFCSME 93 said.

City officials said it was up to council to do something. Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy called for a hearing to explore solutions to thwarting future attacks, including increased security and letting parking enforcement work in pairs during overnight shifts.

"We need to make sure they have what they need to do their job, and if they don't feel safe, then what do we, as a city, need to do to change that," Murphy said. “It falls on us. Being attacked at work is never something we should accept.”

Murphy said she hopes something can be done before another attack.

“It’s getting increasingly unsafe, so something has to change before another attack on our city workers happens.”

Murphy’s hearing is scheduled of Feb. 20. Photos of the worker, who is just a couple of months away from retirement, were shocking, she said.

“It was horrifying, the trauma to his face,” Murphy said. “Unfortunately when you dig a little deeper, you hear other employees with similar concerns about their safety. ... That’s not acceptable.”

Durkin said he would meet with the parking enforcement workers prior to the hearing, but said it also falls on the public to make changes.

"Really, what needs to change is the public attitude toward these officers, and the mean-spirited and often violent way they're treated," Durkin said.

In recent years, several attacks on city workers across the country have been reported.

Last year, in Santa Cruz, Cal., a maintenance worker at Harvey West Park was attacked and injured while working. Police said the worker suffered on-life-threatening injuries after he was hit and choked by an assailant. Santa Cruz Police Chief Bernie Escalante said violence against city workers must stop.

"It's unacceptable for city workers to come to work and get assaulted. The aggressive behaviors and intimidation being directed at good people for simply doing their jobs - MUST STOP," Escalante said in a Facebook post at the time.

And in Wheeling, West Virginia, a city worker charged with cleaning up an illegal dump site, was attacked by a man who was unhoused at the time.

Wheeling Police Department officials said Roland Copney, 34, was charged with battery after workers in the city of Wheeling Operations Department arrived in East Wheeling to clean up the site and got into a confrontation with Copney. Copney allegedly punched a worker in the jaw during the confrontation.

And in San Francisco, city workers tasked with enforcing vendor licensing on the streets of the Mission District are asking police to take over their duties after being assaulted.

San Francisco Department of Public Works employees said they face threats and physical violence as they try to enforce new policies for unpermitted vending.

“We won’t even say anything yet — they’re already threatening our families, threatening to kill us, telling us, ‘Just wait ’til we see you without the police,’ ‘We’ll follow you to your home,’” one worker named John at the Mission District police station’s latest monthly community meeting told the Mission Local newspaper.

City officials there said workers were supposed to go with police officers, but that sometimes, officers weren’t available to go with them.

“They have been physically assaulted; thankfully nothing too serious, but still scary,” Rachel Gordon, a spokesperson for the department said. “We’ve made it very clear with our workers: If there aren’t the police available to support in the inspections, or if you’re feeling particularly vulnerable or it’s a danger … to extract yourself from the situation.”  

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