Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — A Solidaridad city official will have to answer in a court for his part in removing a parking boot from the front wheel of a car. Playaparq, the company who owned the boot, have filed a criminal complaint for damages against the city councilor who removed it with a hammer.
Last week, Solidaridad Councilor Marciano Toledo Sánchez, was videoed removing the wheel clamp with several swift swings of a hammer in order to free the vehicle for a group of tourists.
Since releasing his video, the Playa del Carmen parking company has filed a legal complaint against him. According to lawyer Diego Gracidas Martinez, the device is part of Solidaridad’s comprehensive mobility system, so its destruction is classified as damage to roads or means of communication, which is punishable with jail time.
“A person who commits a crime must have responsibility,” Martinez said adding that Toledo Sánchez violated his official function by unilaterally deciding to condone the sanction of the tourists and “easily exhibiting how he takes the law into his own hands.”
On August 4, the group of tourists parked their car in a central Playa del Carmen metered payment zone at 10:00 a.m. then went to the island of Cozumel for the day. When they came back, their vehicle had been ticketed and booted with a wheel clamp.
According to Toledo Sánchez, he stepped in when, after the tourists paid their fine, the boot had still not been removed. The tourists were told they had to wait for Playaparq operating hours, which was 10:00 a.m. the next morning, however, the group had an 11:00 a.m. flight.