Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney released a statement Wednesday afternoon denouncing officers that park their marked police cars in handicap spaces after a photo documenting the act was posted on Twitter.
In a photo shared by a Twitter user Tuesday night, a marked CMPD police car was parked in a spot reserved for people with handicapped placards in front of the Circle K convenience store on Charlottetowne Avenue. CMPD's Twitter account responded to the photo, asking for the location of the incident. Putney released his statement the next day.
“The practice of parking in spots reserved for our handicapped citizens is unacceptable, not to mention illegal,” Putney said. “This will absolutely not be tolerated and I expect our officers to model the appropriate behavior.”
“We are better than this and we need to act like it,” he added. “Those who violate the public’s trust will be held accountable for their actions.”
After learning two CMPD marked units were photographed in parking spaces reserved for people with disabilities recently, Chief Kerr Putney issued this statement: pic.twitter.com/7DobNBNQ0q
— CMPD News (@CMPD) August 15, 2018
This is the second photo of an illegally parked police car to be shared on social media in less than a week. According to the Charlotte Observer, another patrol car was parked in a handicapped spot at a South End apartment building on Aug. 9. A resident of the building took a photo of the car and contacted CMPD on Instagram.
Police have not released the names of the officers involved in the two incidents or said whether they’ve been disciplined.