State v. Boyd, 90-D-2672
| Decision Date | 07 June 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-D-2672,90-D-2672 |
| Citation | 61 Ohio Misc.2d 811,585 N.E.2d 582 |
| Parties | The STATE of Ohio v. BOYD. |
| Court | Ohio Court of Common Pleas |
Syllabus by the Court
R.C. 4511.68(N) provides that no person shall stand or park a vehicle at any place where signs prohibit stopping. Thus, a person who "stops" his vehicle, with its motor running, alongside a curb marked with a sign stating "No parking permitted--fire lane" has not violated this statute.
Gregory Spears, Asst. Pros. Atty., for the state.
Palmer L. Boyd III, pro se.
The defendant, Palmer L. Boyd III, is charged with violating R.C. 4511.68(N), which reads in relevant part as follows:
The parties have stipulated that the defendant was behind the wheel of a motor vehicle which, with its motor running, while stopped alongside a curb marked with a sign stating "No parking permitted--fire lane."
The defendant argues that he was not in violation of this statute since it only prohibits standing or parking at a place where a sign prohibits "stopping"; that is, defendant contends that since the sign in question did not prohibit stopping, he was not in violation of the statute. The prosecution argues that the definition of "parking" includes stopping or standing, or, alternatively, that the language in R.C. 4511.68(N), which requires a sign prohibiting "stopping," prohibits parking as well.
There are no definitions of "stand," "park" or "stopping" in the Revised Code. At the same time, the court notes that the legislature has made distinctions between the different manners in which a vehicle can come to a stop. For example, R.C. 4511.66 prohibits "stop[ping], park[ing], or leave standing," any vehicle upon the highway; R.C. 4511.661 prohibits permitting a vehicle to "stand unattended"; R.C. 4511.681 deals only with "parking" a vehicle; R.C. 4511.69 deals with "stopp[ing] or park[ing]" a vehicle; and R.C. Chapter 4521 deals with violations of law that regulate the "standing or parking" of vehicles.
The court finds as a matter of fact that the vehicle of the defendant was stopped or standing in an area marked "No parking permitted--fire lane." R.C. 4511.68(N) prohibits such standing or parking only in "any place where signs prohibit stopping." Since the sign where the defendant's vehicle was stopped did not prohibit...
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