The PPA ticketed a Good Samaritan helping a person who was seizing. It later canceled the violation.
“What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to let this man have a seizure and not do anything?” Anthony Jackson recalled telling the PPA officer.
Anthony Jackson was driving on South Ninth Street shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday when he saw a man drop to the sidewalk and start convulsing.
The 50-year-old former police officer pulled over and rushed to the man’s aid, calling on the training he received in his 20 years in the Philadelphia Police Department. As Jackson tended to the man, who was foaming at the mouth, he saw a Philadelphia Parking Authority officer pull up and issue him a ticket.
He explained the situation to the officer and then a supervisor, but was told there was nothing the agency could do. He’d have to fight the ticket.
Jackson said that as he was holding the man to make sure he wouldn’t injure himself and trying to access the man’s phone to call family, the PPA officer issued the ticket despite Jackson’s protests. Several witnesses, including one man who posted the details of the incident on Reddit, also spoke up for Jackson.
Jackson, now the assistant security director for the Sixers, recalled telling the PPA officer, “What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to let this man have a seizure and not do anything?”
Jackson had been driving toward Market Street from Chestnut Street when he saw the man fall in front of the Philadelphia Passport Agency building, he said. Jackson pulled over and parked on the east side of the street in a parking spot. The ticket issued was for a fine of $76 for parking in the spot between the prohibited hours of 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
In a statement Friday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Parking Authority said the agency had canceled the ticket and apologized to Jackson.
“After a review of the incident, it was determined that while our parking enforcement officer issued a ticket to an illegally parked vehicle, he was unaware of the situation involving the good samaritan who had parked illegally to assist another citizen in distress. The PPA has canceled the ticket. The public should know that PPA parking enforcement officers do not have the authority to cancel a ticket once it is issued. The PPA apologizes to the good samaritan and commends the citizen for their assistance in helping a fellow citizen in distress.”
Shortly after Jackson tended to the man, paramedics arrived and the man appeared to be conscious and alert, he said. For Jackson, his instincts kicked in when he saw the man in distress and was focused solely on making sure he was all right.
“That was the only thing I was worried about,” he said. “His safety. That’s the only thing I cared about.”