Ambulance given Denver boot during emergency response

A New Orleans ambulance was booted by a convenience store worker for parking in their space while responding to a call. WWLTV also reports the gent responsible has been issued a ticket and lost his job. Apparently the flashing lights were in the wrong language.

Sidi Aleywa was fired for booting the ambulance, a worker at Mr. Quicky's told WWLTV. Others were still booting cars Monday morning.
According to the police report, Aleywa didn't realize it was an ambulance that he booted, and added that he doesn't speak any English

(Thanks Leo!)

Jason Weisberger is Boing Boing's publisher. He often does what he ought, instead of what he should. On instagram and twitter he is @jlw

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So, in New Orleans, private citizens are allowed to boot vehicles?
- http://twitter.com/bradgall Brad Gall
  
  Only on private property. They will either do that or have your car towed .
  - Brian Sprague
    
    As soon as you pull in?
    - http://twitter.com/bradgall Brad Gall
      
      I don’t know the specifics. But I do know to make sure that the abandoned empty lot you parked in while you go watch the parade is not posted. Other wise you’re headed down to the tow yard with a nice wad of cash to get you car back.
      - Lupus_Yonderboy
        
        And if you’re super lucky you get to go to the tow yard under the interstate at the bottom of the Treme! Man, that place is sketchyyyyyyyy.
- Cowicide
  
  So, in New Orleans, private citizens are allowed to boot vehicles?
  
  Yep, it sounds like a Libertarian paradise.
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  Can they also arbitrarily charge you whatever they want too (sign said $115)? Sounds like a great money making racket.
  - http://profiles.google.com/prkwagner Peter Wagner
    
    That place is across from the court house. It makes AS MUCH MONEY booting cars as it does with the convenience store sales! Rip off joint.
    - foobar
      
      I’m not sure I understand the problem. Assuming it’s indicated as private parking and not disguised as publicly available, why not just not park there? I’d have you towed if you parked in my driveway too, and that’s if I was feeling generous. I might just break your window and move it into the street.
      - http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke
        
        If it’s a big white truck with loud sirens and flashing lights, you might realize that it’s a fucking AMBULANCE and can park anywhere it pleases.
      - SamSam
        
        I think foobar was replying to the general assertion that booting cars who illegally park in your property was the action of a “rip off joint.”
        
        I think that in the abstract foobar is certainly correct. In this exact instance, of course, I don’t think anyone disagrees that no one should be booting ambulances…
      - foobar
        
        Right, as @samfen:disqus says. I’d rather hoped that went without saying.
      - cdh1971
        
        Dinos and Drosophila, sweet-pea.
      - cdh1971
        
        Just read down the thread foobar — ignore my first post – I agree with your logic – guess I posted too soon.
http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

A convenience store boots cars? For what?

On an unrelated note New Orleans firefighters note a marked increase in convenience stores catching fire somehow.
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  But they only catch fire on the days its under 120% humidity.
Martijn

So “to boot” means “to put a wheel clamp on”? I didn’t know that yet. The summary made me wonder what had really happened.
- http://lemoutan.blogspot.com/ Lemoutan
  
  I thought they’d gone all Shakespeare on us. It boots him not to be compassionate.
  - GawainLavers
    
    …callousness makes him barf?
- Sparg
  
  Yes. Check out The Denver Boot.
http://profiles.google.com/michael.geier Michael Geier

How do you work in a convenience store and not speak the language of the majority of the population in the area?
- mccrum
  
  Do you have a lot of discussions with your local convenience store employee? I’m sure “Hi,” “bye” and “here’s your change” he’s aware of, but I doubt he’s discussing last night’s Jets game much.
  - smr
    
    No Jets games, sure, but “where do you keep the milk?”
- TheOven
  
  You’re not from around here, are you?
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    As in Earth.
- Ryan Lenethen
  
  He could just stock shelves and sweep for all we know. Or did anyway…
  
  Could be the ower told him to do it, or perhaps in his country they don’t have ambulance’s or something. Perhaps he just isn’t all that bright.
  
  Sounds like just an excuse however to me.
- kenmce
  
  How do you work in a convenience store and not speak the language of the majority of the population in the area?
  
  I’m going to guess that the people in that store are all from somewhere, and that poor bastard Sidi speaks the same language they do. He has the least English so he works in the back, cleans, stocks, boots, makes sandwiches, etc.
chgoliz

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the similarity to Apu and the Kwik-E-Mart.

In all seriousness, in what neighborhood in New Orleans can you get away with speaking no English or Cajun French and yet have a job serving customers?

The linked article states that the EMTs were IN THE STORE (not just “a business”) dealing with the medical emergency….it’s not like they found a convenient parking spot and then went to the building next door.
- TheOven
  
  I thought it was funny that that was even worth reporting:
  
  “But the paramedics apparently were there the whole time tending to a man with chest pains.”
  If there’s an ambulance and the emergency was around back, or off the property, they still shouldn’t boot them. It should be illegal to put a boot on any emergency vehicles.
  - xzzy
    
    Well, illegal for any emergency vehicle functioning in that capacity.
    
    If a couple of dudes park an ambulance on private property so they can eat some lunch I think the rules should be in favor of the land owner. You shouldn’t get a free pass just because someone bolted flashing lights to your car.
    
    It would still be a jerk thing to do but it shouldn’t be illegal. Community backlash would be good enough. :D
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      You are a shoe-in for Mogadishu City Council.
      - http://boingboing.net/ Jason Weisberger
        
        Hahahahaha.
    - TheOven
      
      I feel it should still be illegal. That emergency vehicle might have to leave your spot to go attend an actual emergency at any time. They should be allowed to grab a bite to eat while out and about without having to worry about finding parking. I would expect them to move if asked.
      
      I see it as y(our) civic duty to let stuff like this slide, should it ever actually happen. I just can’t see many ambulance drivers or paramedics throwing their weight around that way. Cops on the other hand…
    - http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke
      
      You really trust some random dude to know whether the first responders are responding or just knocking off for lunch? Letting them just park illegally all the time is much less harmful than risking some guy’s life to protect your goddamn property rights.
- ChickieD
  
  I lived in New Orleans for 4 years. I only ever heard people speaking Cajun once the whole time I lived there. It’s actually spoken more out in the boonies; I doubt it’d do you much good in New Orleans proper. Here’s a little 411 on Cajun country: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/destamer_cajun.html
  - Lupus_Yonderboy
    
    Yeah, NOLA isn’t really a Cajun area, the only one that I regularly see is the one guy who works in my office who drives in from Houma everyday. Creoles, now, there’s tons of those around.
  - http://www.facebook.com/alex.c.liggett Alex Liggett
    
    Lafayette, LA is the heart of Cajun Country and has a population of 125,000 people…not really the “boonies.”
    - ChickieD
      
      True dat. People who haven’t lived there tend to associate Cajuns with New Orleans, but it’s more of a rural type of culture than city folk. I, personally, think that the most important think to know about Cajun culture is ZYDECO!!! (heads up: music plays when you click the link) http://www.zydecoonline.com/dev/index.php
http://ae4rv.com/ royaltrux

Reason for boot: We don’t want your vehicle here.

Result of boot: Vehicle stays where it is.
- Warren_Terra
  
  Cute, but the real reason for the boot is: if your vehicle is going to be here, we’re going to get paid for tolerating its presence.
  
  Not, obviously, that this applies to an ambulance whose EMTs are providing emergency assistance to someone nearby.
  - http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke
    
    What about: I’m going to use my spare tire and steal your boot? Unless you are the police I don’t see anything you could do about it.
    - Warren_Terra
      
      A typical tire boot has a metal cover over at least a significant portion of the hubcap and at least one of the lugnuts, so I don’t really see how you’d swap out the booted tire for the spare.
    - SamSam
      
      Never been booted, have you?
      
      That said, you could always call Angle Grinder Man…
      
      http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fgKOj2LAse0/UED7XlCaisI/AAAAAAAABLs/pZV6vto9MGQ/s1600/angle20grinder20man20web.jpg
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGQMq3hNv-g
Rick York

Another proof that the fools are always with us. What did he think the ambulance was there for?

To quote the great one, “And, so it goes.”
- kenmce
  
  What did he think the ambulance was there for?
  
  I’m going to guess that he was new to the first world ( NOLA is at least honorarily first world), had been given simple instructions about booting anyone who was not standing in the checkout line, had no idea why that fancy looking truck with all the lights on it was in his parking lot, and didn’t care, because his instructions were quite clear.
K-9

To be honest, I’m kind of relieved it was a schmuck of a convenience store worker who did it. I was perfectly prepared to read that it was done by the city parking enforcement.
Joel Phillips

Okay, to boot already has lots of meanings: to kick out, to put boots on something, to start up (and that’s just the verbs). How about we all start using using “wheelclamp” or “clamp” and make the world a less ambiguous place?
- Brainspore
  
  What kind of evil puzzle-master would torture our brains with a word that has more than one possible meaning? STOP FUCKING WITH US, LINGUISTS!
- Warren_Terra
  
  We don’t use “Lorry”, We don’t eat “Crisps”, we don’t recognize “Brown Sauce”, and we don’t say “Clamp”.
  
  (Actually, for all I know some Americans do say “Clamp”, and I am personally fond of Britishisms. Just thought I’d pointlessly rant. And if you’re looking to rationalize the English language, even just its American variant(s), you’re going to be busy, and frustrated).
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Clamp is definitely in use in the US to describe the application of a boot. In this case, booted is in quotes and is a play on words since it also means to eject someone. Now bugger off, you gormless tit.
- DrDave
  
  I assume “to boot” in this context comes from “Denver boot”, another term for wheel clamp. Denver first used the clamps in the 1950s.
  - smr
    
    *Denver* boot doesn’t travel so well, though.
    
    1950s Colorado parking enforcement is a bit of a niche thing overseas.
    - http://arib.livejournal.com Ari B.
      
      As a kid, I always heard it called a Denver Boot or Jersey Boot.
http://www.facebook.com/kdh1716 Kevin Hill

Once saw some guys in Philadelphia using an acetylene torch to get a boot off. A police cruiser pulled up, told the guys to hurry up before they got in trouble and drove off.
- jackbird
  
  That’s because the PPA is run by the state, not the city, and there’s no love lost between them and the police department. Or really between them and humanity.
http://twitter.com/ErnestValdemar Ernest Valdemar

You know, it’s cases like this that make it clear why my considered opinions/personal biases should be implemented as federal statutes/state laws/reasonable guidelines/actionable torts.
Aeron

If I went to Bali and saw an emergency vehicle I would immediately recognize it as an emergency vehicle. You don’t have to speak English to rub two brains cells together and understand what its function is. Especially when it’s in rave-mode!
Baldhead

Seems like an intelligence barrier to me.
- cdh1971
  
  Man…does everything have to be a conspiracy theory? I’m sure there was no international intrigue involving the CIA, MI6 or whatever agencies. Most likely, the convenience store employee was simply stupid!!!