Man arrested after blocking traffic while waiting for a parking spot
71-year-old Carmen James Torockio’s visit to Bonita Beach Park in Florida ended in his arrest even before he could leave his parked car. As reported by WZVN ABC 7, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania man drove to the popular Bonita Springs locale and was searching for an open space to park, which is not an easy feat. William Chalapenko an annual visitor from Canada told the station, "You see a dozen cars looking for spaces and tempers are a little short at times."
According to reports, that was the case for Torockio. After he had been driving around for 45 minutes, he finally found a driver that was leaving a parking spot. He hunkered down and would not move until he could get that space. This would have been all well and good if not for the fact that his Chrysler van was blocking traffic on adjacent Hickory Boulevard. A uniformed Lee County deputy spotted the traffic snarl and approached Torockio to get him to move, but the driver refused. The officer’s second attempt resulted in the driver rolling up his window. Then the deputy ordered the senior out of his vehicle, but Torockio drove into the now freed up parking spot.
The Lee County deputy approached the parked van and told Torockio he was under arrest, but the upset driver simply said, "I am not! Don't you have anything better to do?" The septuagenarian continued to resist arrest while yelling and screaming, "What are you going to do, beat up a 72-year-old man?" When another officer arrived, Torockio was arrested and charged with resisting an officer without violence, failure to obey police and violation of county park rules. His van was later towed.
