UCLA Football Players’ New Opponent: the Disabled

No wonder UCLA lost this year’s Rose Bowl game. Six athletes had undergone back surgery. Another was disabled by a herniated disk. Three others had bad knees, another a broken ankle. Still another had contracted Bell’s palsy, a nerve disorder that causes facial paralysis.

Those were some of the bogus reasons cited by 14 current or former UCLA football players in a scam to illegally obtain handicapped parking passes, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney’s office said Friday.

Sketchy details of the scandal have begun to emerge, and the players face more than possible legal penalties of six-month jail terms and $1,000 fines resulting from misdemeanor charges filed Thursday. They also face the wrath of legions of disabled individuals and advocacy groups who decried them as selfish, foolish and just plain ignorant of what people in wheelchairs must go through.

“I think they should get punished by actually having to be in a wheelchair for a month so they could see what it’s like to really, really need it,” said Kate Gettys, 27, of Reseda, who is disabled by a muscle disorder known as fibromyalgia.

She was taking part in therapeutic exercise Friday at the Center of Achievement for the Physically Disabled at Cal State Northridge, where word of the abuses hung in the air. Bea Tucker was also there, a 75-year-old Arleta resident with knee and back problems who has to get about with the aid of a walker. She could scarcely contain her outrage.

“Those bozos,” Tucker said. “They ought to be grateful they are strong, healthy individuals who can take an extra step to go someplace. I’d give my eyeteeth for that.”

Media interest in the case has been heavy since the scandal broke Thursday after a six-month investigation, said spokesman Mike Qualls of the city attorney’s office. He said the probe was initiated by UCLA police in January after an officer spotted a car with an improperly displayed handicapped placard entering a parking garage.

The driver, who was not disabled, claimed to be visiting from out of town and told the officer he had borrowed the placard, Qualls said. Further interviews led to other suspects who fit a pattern: They were football players. Eventually, UCLA police nailed down their suspects by comparing the UCLA football roster to Department of Motor Vehicles rolls of disabled drivers, Qualls said.

The university had no comment Friday about the charges against the players, who included Durell Price, the team’s starting fullback, and Ryan Roques, a leading cornerback prospect.

Players cited disabilities ranging from asthma to lower back pain and apparently fabricated the names of the three physicians who vouched for their disabilities, the city attorney’s spokesman said. It remained unclear how long the players may have been using the placards, which can secure preferred parking either on or off campus. UCLA police referred calls Friday to the UCLA Athletic Department, which said the information was unavailable.

The DMV, which declined to disclose when the placards were issued, awards about a million of them a year, said spokesman Evan Nossoff. Drivers can qualify because of any number of disabilities, including amputations, heart problems, infirmities related to age and injuries that might be only temporary.

In almost every case, the signature of a physician is the only real requirement. “It is a fairly complicated subject,” Nossoff said, “and that’s why we leave it to doctors.”

To park in a handicapped spot without a placard is to risk a $270 ticket. At UCLA, in traffic-congested Westwood, parking is always hard to come by. There are 22,577 parking spaces in lots and structures around the university, and 551 of the best ones are reserved for the disabled. For an able-bodied student, the only way to get one is to cheat.

For those with a legitimate claim to the spaces, misuse of the spaces is a sore point.

Doug Martin said he has confronted violators in the past.

“They’ll ignore you, at best, and at worst they’ll be hostile,” said Martin, 52, who contracted polio as a child and moves about in a motorized wheelchair. As coordinator of the campus group Americans With Disabilities, Martin is especially vigilant for violators.

‘ “It’s deplorable,” he said. “It’s almost like their attitude is, ‘These spaces are fair game.’ ”

What rankles disabled people the most is not being shut out of handicapped spaces close to buildings. . A greater problem for someone with a wheelchair is simply getting out of the car when wedged into a normal parking space.

“In a [smaller] regular spot, we don’t have clearance for the doors and the ramp,” said Art Donnelly, 57, of Santa Clarita, who has used a wheelchair since 1994, when he injured his neck and spine in a fall from a two-story building. .

There are safety concerns too, said Mary Rios of Downey, who has been in a wheelchair for five years since being injured in a traffic accident. When she is unable to park in a handicapped spot, she must avoid traffic as she rolls across the expanse of the lot, low in her wheelchair.

“They’re backing up, they don’t see you,” she said.

Liz Oliveros of the assistance group Los Angeles Community Rehabilitation Services noted the irony of the case: healthy football players, perhaps the strongest and most able-bodied students on campus, stealing spots from those who need them most.

“These men, they have muscles, they are humongous, they are very healthy. This is ridiculous,” she said. “ . . . How could they be taking places from people who need them? It’s like taking food from the hungry.”

For punishment, said Virginia Michael, a Costa Mesa woman who has suffered 26 years with multiple sclerosis, she would like to see them take care of other handicapped people. “Let them give a bath to those who can’t do it for themselves. Let them ride around in a wheelchair. See how much fun that is.”

Enid Awad, director of Southern California Rehabilitation Service in Downey, was more forgiving but decried the actions of the athletes as “a sad commentary.”

“It’s a selfish, foolish thing to do,” she said. “I’m sure [they’re not] mean-spirited. They just don’t understand. They ought to . . . see what [disabled] people go through just to get up and get to work in the morning.”

A number of people, like Irene Wolff, point out that the abuse of handicapped parking spots is rampant.

“I’ve seen people get out of their cars and romp all over the place,” the Costa Mesa resident said.

There was a time when it would not have bothered her. In fact, she said, during the busy holiday shopping season a few years ago she tried to get away with it herself--and was slapped with a $100 parking ticket.

Now she is entitled to handicapped parking. Hobbled by varicose veins and ulcers on her legs and an inner-ear disease that has destroyed her balance, she walks with great difficulty using a cane.

Her blue placard--and the parking spot that goes with it--have become vitally important.

“Now,” she said, “I understand.”

Times staff writers Agnes Diggs and Michael Luo contributed to this story.