In what is probably a textbook definition of “adding insult to injury,” the city of Syracuse, New York, sent a traffic ticket to someone driving to a funeral.
According to Syracuse.com, David Daws was driving with his fiancée, Alison DeStefano, on the way to her grandfather’s funeral as part of the funeral procession when they ran a red light.
Michelle Daws, who owned the car, then got a $50 ticket about a week later. David Daws said he was the only driver in the procession to get ticketed.
“I was just surprised, baffled honestly,” David Daws says. “Why us and no one else? It really doesn’t make sense.”
Funeral directors tell Syracuse.com that it’s not uncommon for cars in processions to run red lights, provided they do so with caution. They note that cars of a procession travel together and are clearly marked — the vehicle David Daws was driving, for example, was adorned with flags.
“For the over 40 years I’ve been doing this, everyone stays together,” says Shepardson Funeral Home owner Chris Shepardson. “That’s the custom, that’s the way it’s been forever.”
Michelle Daws says she appealed the ticket, but was denied.
“This whole thing has just made me very angry,” she says. “They are being opportunistic at the moment you would think they would cut people some slack.”
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