Politics

Big Brother is watching: Man fined $128 for warming-up his car on his property

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The Democrat message sounds eerily Big Brother-ish. (Twitter)

Orwell’s Big Brother is alive and well in Michigan…

There’s a particular phrase that’s gained quite the following among conservative and libertarian minded citizens: I don’t need the government to protect me from me.

Sadly, that message hasn’t quite made it to the town of Roseville, Michigan, roughly 20 miles north of the veritable poster boy for Big Government, the failed experiment in total government control better known as Detroit.

As reported by Christina Hall of the Detroit Free Press (via USA Today), Roseville resident Taylor Trupiano, 24, was fined by the local government $128 for the crime of warming up his car on a typically frigid Michigan January morning.

But here’s the rub, regardless that the automobile in question was Trupiano’s property and the very same car was parked on the driveway of his own home, a Roseville police officer cited young Taylor for violating a state law intended to put the kibosh on auto theft.

According to Trupiano, he left his vehicle unattended to go in his home to help his girlfriend with her 2-year-old-son, who also happens to suffer with cerebral palsy.

As noted by reporter Hall;

Trupiano’s vehicle was left “wide open” near the bottom of his driveway about 2 feet from the sidewalk, City Attorney Tim Tomlinson said.

“There is an important public safety goal this is trying to achieve by having these regulations on the books,” Tomlinson said.

Nonetheless, Trupiano fought the citation in court, but to no avail. Judge Marco Santia of 39th District Court ruled against him.

Also published by Hall ragarding Trupiano;

He also didn’t want his girlfriend’s son, who has cerebral palsy, to get into a cold car on a freezing day, he said. He sees valets, delivery drivers, school bus drivers and even police leave their cars running and unattended for various reasons.

“That’s a little upsetting,” Trupiano said after the hearing. He doesn’t think the ordinance “applies to my private property.”

Interestingly enough, Hall also reported (perhaps unwittingly), a totally separate matter that smacks of Big Brother;

[Judge] Santia cited [Trupiano’s attorney, Nicholas ] Somberg for contempt of court for live-streaming the first part of Thursday’s hearing on Somberg’s Facebook page without notifying the court or asking permission to do so. Somberg’s hearing is May 25.

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