Earlier this week, I encountered a situation that almost resulted in a physical confrontation. There I was, innocently trying to procure a simple foot-long sub from the Subway in Hannaford Plaza on Central Avenue here in Albany. It is right around the corner from where I live. Let me set the stage before I get into the incident itself.
My wife has a properly-issued handicapped placard due to her physical disability. She plays by the rules. She parks in handicapped spaces that she is legally allowed to occupy. She hangs her tag before exiting our vehicle as failing to hang one’s tag is improper usage and can result in a ticket and a fine. This is the key takeaway here: she plays by the rules.
Imagine my outrage when I saw a truck parked in a handicapped space that my wife was entitled to. There was no tag. That told me that the person was not handicapped and I turned out to be correct in that assumption. The truck was a commercial truck, representing Cunningham’s Property Adjustments. The businesses’ publicly-listed number is (518) 491-4670.
I immediately called the number, thinking that it was a rogue employee who parked there without a second’s concern for people who truly are disabled. It turns out that the owner answered the phone. When I politely asked why one of his employees was misusing the handicapped parking, he and some woman came running out of the nearby Five Guys. And they were lit!
Why did I assume there was misuse? Because there was no tag hanging. Though that may not seem like a big deal, it is a serious situation, according to the state.
Outraged, it is my recollection that they hurled slurs and insults and the woman, who looks like she came straight out of West Virginia, as does her cohort, aggressively approached me asked if I thought I was better than everyone else. Her approach was so aggressive that I almost had to defend myself. I went into self defense mode, ready to slam her into the glass door in order to protect both myself and my wife.
And do I think that I am better than everyone else? Well, yes, at least better than those two and at least in this situation. Both myself and my wife adhere to the stringent rules that the state rightfully has in place surrounding the proper usage of tags.
The rules, listed on the website, strictly state that handicapped parking spaces are “designated for use by a person with a disability.”
Furthermore, “[it] is a serious misuse of license plates and permits for people with disabilities when someone other than the person with a disability uses the plates or permit to park in a space reserved for people with disabilities.”
That will be important in a moment.
As for the absence of a tag, the website further states that “when parked, hang the parking permit from the vehicle’s inside rearview [sic] mirror. Remove the permit from the mirror before driving.” So right off the bat, they were wrong. Well, more specifically, the driver was wrong.
Now to the good stuff. I took numerous pictures of the truck and that further enraged the duo. They angrily entered their vehicle and drove away. Here’s the problem: the guy was anything but handicapped. He seems to own a business that is quite heavy on physical labor and that said to me that he was not entitled to a tag.
I was right and it was by his own admission, or at least the admission of someone too scared to post under his or her real name.
I first stopped by the area precinct of the Albany Police Department and filed a complaint. I then did what any responsible person would do. I went home and left a negative review on their Yelp page. And yes, their Nextdoor page. I further made use of the city’s See, Click, Fix website, which allows people to file complaints about various violations throughout the city.
One of the categories pertains to parking enforcement. It was then that I posted an issue, as is my right as a resident of Albany. I posted a brief narrative and I posted relevant photographs. As of the time that this article was published, the issue remains open, which to me is a good sign. At least one poster agrees that I have a valid point.
I posted under my real name as I am not a coward and because I have no reason whatsoever to hide. Quickly, an anonymous coward claimed that the guy’s son has a disability and implied that the tag was for that supposed son. Well, here’s the problem. That son was not present. That therefore means, under state law, that was a violation as the man loudly and proudly used a tag that was not meant for him.
A direct quote from the guy is this: “My son is handicapped so I don’t know who you think you are.” Okay, let’s assume that the son exists and let’s further assume that he really is handicapped. There was no son present.
That tag clearly was meant for his son, again if that little story of his is even true, and that means that the tag can only be used when the child is present. Again, the child most certainly was not present. Remember those quotes? What the man did appears to be a “serious misuse” of the tag. That’s serious business here. That’s why I filed a complaint with the police department and through the city’s website.
If the tag truly is for his son, state law clearly states that he used the tag improperly. “The person to whom the license plate or permit was issued must be traveling in the vehicle in order to use these spaces,” the website states. Since the son wasn’t there, the driver was not allowed to use that tag.
Assuming that the sob story about a mysterious son is true, then the man’s usage of the placard was clearly in violation of state law. That should anger every person who is entitled to a tag and who uses it properly.
Now, again, I was extremely polite and as thanks for that, there was aggressive approaching, yelling, threats and middle fingers. They laughed and thought violating state law is something to laugh about. How wrong they were! I don’t know how they handle things in West Virginia, where they’re clearly from based on their attire, appearance and attitude, but this is New York state!
Now, if they’d simply been professional, polite and if they’d apologized and accepted accountability for their actions, I would have deleted the photographs and I would have never gone to the police department and I certainly wouldn’t have posted the issue on the website. I absolutely would not be writing this article. But they made choices.
So I made choices based on their choices.
I think it’s a shame that there are people like this walking the streets. These people have no regard for the truly handicapped. Again, the son may be a valid reason to have that tag, but only if he’s physically there. Maybe the reason that he wasn’t there is because he in actuality does not exist. Right now, I’m operating under the assumption that he’s not being truthful about this mysterious boy.
Even if the child does exist, and I doubt that he does, the man made the choice to violate state law.
The absence of apologies and accountability shows me that these people are, at least to me, awful human beings. They should have their son (if they truly have one) taken away and raised by people who have respect for the law. If he’s using his as yet to be proven son’s tag, then what else is he misusing? A child should not be brought up in such an environment, in my opinion.
I am glad that this guy forgot to hang “his” tag. Had he hung it, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it. But because he failed to do such a simple thing, he is now exposed by an anonymous poster (probably him) as someone who claims to have a handicapped son and who chooses to improperly use a tag clearly not meant for him.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, but because of the way they responded to my extremely calm and polite approach, I will not let this drop. What do I hope to get out of this? Accountability. The law applies to everyone, not just people who actually know better, but do stuff anyway.
As for the business, it’s obvious to me that the owner does not care about the law. That being the case, I would make the claim that people should not patronize his business. I wouldn’t want a violator anywhere near a job site, but that’s just me. My personal recommendation is that you choose a business that respects the handicapped or disabled.
EDITED on 10/5/2025 at 7:39 pm.
As stated in the article linked to below, the story goes that the supposed kid was in the truck. No, no, wait. Now the story is that he was in Five Guys. If he really had been in the truck, then they left a disabled kid with CP alone with almost certainly no way of getting out by himself in an emergency. If he exists. If they left him behind at Five Guys, that would be child abandonment as I swear to you that it was only this trashy duo.
It seems that, based on what I’ve been told, the owner is telling people that I am the one lying, that the kid was either in the truck or in Five Guys. This is a good thing. This shows that he knows he has no leg to stand on in this situation. That means I’m the more credible one here. If they’d just apologized, none of this would be happening.
I have nothing to gain by lying, folks. But he does. Since there’s the possibility that the kid, by his own admission, was either left in the truck by himself or left behind at Five Guys, I did the right thing and filed a CPS complaint through the hotline. I really didn’t want it to go this far, but rather than accept accountability, he’s pulling this stunt. So rather than just let it drop, I’m going full throttle.
I have the truth and a witness on my side.