Meter maid writes 'em a cruel ticket

By MATTHEW LYSIAK and TRACY CONNOR
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Thursday, January 10th 2008, 4:00 AM

Eugene Iannicelli, 84, got a ticket when he helped his wife, Mary, from their car outside a dialysis center in Brooklyn.
When 84-year-old Eugene Iannicelli double-parked in front of a dialysis clinic so he could escort his blind, frail wife to the car, he expected a little understanding.

Instead, he got a $115 ticket.

The Brooklyn traffic agent who spotted the elderly couple couldn't summon up a shred of compassion for their plight.

Now the retired postman is fighting to get the ticket dismissed - and wondering how anyone could be so heartless.

"My wife is legally blind, can't walk, and is totally disabled," Iannicelli told the Daily News.

"For this meter maid to stand there and write me a ticket as I help her into the car - I call that cruel," said Iannicelli, who lives in Dyker Heights.

Iannicelli has a handicapped parking placard for his '92 Chevy, but when he got to the Dyker Heights Dialysis Center on Dec. 19, there were no open spots on 86th St.

"What was I supposed to do?" he asked yesterday. "There were no empty spaces and if she doesn't get this treatment she could die."

Plus, he was only going to be double-parked for a few minutes - the time it would take him to go inside and help his 83-year-old wife, Mary, a few feet across the sidewalk.

He was opening the car door when the traffic enforcement agent pulled up and began writing the ticket - continuing even after Iannicelli explained the extenuating circumstances.

He was hoping for some sympathy, but all he got was bureaucratic indifference.

"I asked her how she could be so thoughtless and she just smiled and told me there is no double parking," he said.

His wife, who undergoes the lifesaving but grueling dialysis treatments for her failing kidneys three times a week, was just as appalled.

"I am angry. How can anyone be so heartless?" she wondered. "This is a lot of money and all we are asking for is a little consideration."

NYPD officials said when the agent began writing the ticket, she did not see Iannicelli or his wife - and once a summons is written, it can't be torn up by the agent.

The police also said the Chevy could have pulled into the clinic driveway - but Iannicelli said it's actually an ambulette bay and it was occupied at the time.

The couple is pleading not guilty to the ticket and will make their case at a hearing if it's not dismissed by mail.

They've already got City Councilman Vincent Gentile (D-Bay Ridge) on their side.

"This is yet another example of the city's insatiable appetite for revenue," Gentile told The News.

"Mr. Iannicelli was merely assisting his disabled legally blind wife ... when the traffic enforcement agent, totally devoid of discretion and compassion, drove up and slapped a $115 ticket on Mr. Iannicelli's vehicle.

"When is enough, enough?" the pol asked. "When is our city going to realize that we must treat residents like partners, not targets?"

tconnor@nydailynews.com

With Alison Gendar