Video of motorcyclist parked in handicapped-accessible area sparks outrage

DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. — A video of a motorcyclist parking his vehicle on the white stripes next to a handicapped-accessible parking spot in Douglas County has gone viral.

In the video, a woman is heard confronting a man about blocking the access space for wheelchairs with his motorcycle.

He proceeds to call the woman ignorant and uses explicit language after she asks him to move out of the spot so that she could park there. The incident, which happened May 21, has sparked outrage in the community.

Kim Harrison is the woman who is heard in the video. She hit her breaking point and started recording.

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"This is the same person within two weeks that has decided to block the access ramp for a wheelchair," Harrison told Channel 2 Action News.

Harrison said this is a situation she deals with regularly. She has a spinal injury that requires her to be in a wheelchair.

“Nobody accidently parks in a handicapped spot or the hash marks. It is something you intentionally do,” Harrison said. “He actually came around to the driver’s side and started giving me the finger and said, ‘Don’t you have better things to do?’ and I said, ‘I stopped to eat dinner here tonight.’”

Harrison said the encounter escalated.

“I had to call 911. When I called 911, that’s when he moved his motorcycle,” Harrison said.

Her video went viral and was shared over 1,000 times. It caught the attention of the Douglasville Police Department, which cited the man.

“I am grateful that they took action. I am a little hesitant it took going viral for someone to take it seriously,” Harrison said. “Even if you are not in a wheelchair in your car, you still need that area to load the wheelchair.”

Harrison said drivers should always be mindful.

“It could be you one day. I never woke up and said, ‘Let me be in a wheelchair and see how difficult my life can be today,’” Harrison said.

Channel 2 Action News tried to contact the man in the video. He did not get back to us, but he did accuse Harrison of harassing him in the video.

Channel 2's Lauren Pozen, however, learned he was fired from his job.

His boss told Pozen that, because the video went viral, the company let the man go because he did not represent the company’s views.

Cox Media Group