ROSEVILLE, Mich. — A Michigan man is up in arms after police slapped him with a $128 ticket for warming up his car in his own driveway.
“I thought it was some kind of joke at first, and then I was thrown back by it. I was really surprised,” Taylor Trupiano said.
Trupiano, of Roseville, said he is still shaking his head over a parking ticket he got on his own property.
Police gave him the ticket for leaving the keys in the ignition with the motor running.
Trupiano said he was just doing something many people do during a Michigan winter.
“I was in and out in probably about 7-8 minutes. So in that amount of time he ran up here, gave me the ticket and by the time I got out he was nowhere to be seen,” Trupiano said.
Trupiano posted the citation on Facebook out of frustration, where it racked up more than 2,000 comments and more than 6,000 shares.
There is no law in Michigan against leaving a car turned on and unattended, but police said an ordinance is in place to help prevent thefts.
“We have five to ten cars stolen this way every winter. It’s dangerous, and of course it drives everyone’s insurance rates up. It drives our crime rates up,” Chief James Berlin said.
Trupiano plans to fight the ticket. Chief Berlin is not backing down.
“It’s common sense. We can’t warn everybody on every law there is. Common sense says you don’t leave your car running unattended,” Berlin said.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)