Chicago Meter Maids Who Wrote Tickets During Marine's Funeral Procession Draw Wrath Of Emanuel
By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 12, 2012 7:00PM
City Hall is apologizing profusely after parking aides issued tickets last week to motorists who pulled over to honor the funeral procession of a South Side Marine who was killed in Afghanistan.
Hundreds of people lined the streets near St. John Fisher Parish in the Beverly neighborhood Friday to honor Cpl. Conner Lowry, a neighborhood man who was killed while serving as a Humvee gunner on combat operations, As Lowry's funeral procession passed, those people stood respectfully, some waving American flags and crying, when parking aides started writing tickets for being illegally parked.
As soon as word of the parking aides actions reached City Hall, they were ordered to immediately stop issuing further tickets and void those that were written. A statement from the Chicago Department of Revenue read:
“The city recognizes these vehicles were parked temporarily under special circumstances to honor a fallen soldier,” the city Revenue Department said in a statement. “As soon as this was brought to the city’s attention, parking enforcement aides were instructed to stop immediately and complied with this directive.“All tickets issued in the vicinity during the time of the procession have been voided. We express our sincerest condolences to the family of Corporal Conner Lowry as all of us grieve his passing.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, according to spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton, was said to be "livid" when he found out, and immediately ordered the Revenue Department to stop.