Parking ticket for man stabbed in city dismissed
San Francisco has dismissed a parking ticket given to a man who was unable to move his car from a street sweeping zone after being stabbed and robbed in the Excelsior in December, Mayor London Breed said.
The development came on Friday, the day after The Chronicle published a story on Anthony Edgar De Guzman’s struggle to get San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to overturn the $79 citation.
De Guzman, a 68yearold security guard, and his niece, Michelle Barrientos, said Friday that no one told them the ticket was dismissed.
Breed, however, tweeted this message Friday morning:
“We checked in this morning and I’m relieved to say that the citation has been dismissed through the appeals process. We need to improve the transparency of this process moving forward to avoid this kind of confusion and hardship.”
De Guzman spent 15 days in the hospital. Afterward, he protested the ticket by submitting a case number and contact information for the detective investigating the stabbing. Officials at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency responded with a letter saying that was insufficient to invalidate the ticket.
De Guzman said he paid the ticket Tuesday.
On Friday, the SFMTA said it will refund De Guzman’s money.
In a tweet, the SFMTA said: “Mr. De Guzman’s situation is unfortunate, and we’re working on solutions to provide appellants with more guidance on how to navigate the process smoothly.”
More than a dozen Chronicle readers offered to pay the ticket themselves.