Earl.Appleby@hnews.fidonet.org (Earl Appleby) (06/28/91)
Index Number: 16492
Disabled Man Is Back on the Streets
by Arlo Wagner
Feisty Harry Solar, 67, won acquittal on a Montgomery County traffic
charge yesterday and said he will resume driving his battery-powered
wheelchair on busy Rockville Pike even though he is aware of the danger.
"He has no alternative. He doesn't want to remain a prisoner in his
apartment," said Mr. Solar's attorney, Steve Ney, legal director of the
Maryland Disability Law Center.
Montgomery County District Judge S. Michael Pincus agreed. Mr. Solar,
who is handicapped by cerebral palsy, said he had to drive his
slow-moving electric cart in the street because sidewalks were
inadequate or inaccessible. The judge ruled that Mr. Solar had no
"willful intent" to impede traffic while shopping for mouthwash at 3:55
p.m. on Wednesday, April 24.
Judge Pincus acquitted Mr. Solar although a county patrolman, Alan E.
Stevens, said he had warned Mr. Solar five times previously that he had
to stay on the sidewalks and could not impede the reasonable flow of
traffic.
"I was very concerned about his welfare," Officer Stevens said. "Traffic
was very heavy."
Mr. Solar could be critically injured or killed, the policeman said,
because motoristsin heavy traffic might not see the orange flag flying
above Mr. Solar's cart and could veer into what they thought was a hole
in the traffic lane.
Despite the risk, Mr. Solar and his 66-year-old wife Luella
said he will return to the streets and the Raindancer Restaurant near
where he was arrested. He may even try to cross Montrose Road where
cars often exceed 40 mph to get to the Silver Diner, she said.
"If they fix the sidewalks, he'll be glad to stay on the sidewalk, I
will too," Mrs. Solar said.
Mrs. Solar also is handicapped by cerebral palsy and gets around on an
electric cart. Her husband drove his cart without an accident for 34
years on Philadelphia streets before they moved in October to the Hebrew
Home of greater Washington on Montrose Road, near Rockville Pike, she
said.
Officer Stevens said the Solars qualify for the County's Call N Ride
discount service. But Mrs. Solar said the service would be too costly
if they were to travel about the community as much as they do."
Frank Vitaric, a longtime advocate of the rights of elderly and
handicapped people. testified that 90 percent of the driveways and
curb cuts, which give access to sidewalks for disabled persons, fail to
meat minimum standads in Montgomery county.
Officer Stevens said Mr. Solar tried to ignore him on April 24. "As I
started to talk with him, he just drove off across the parking lot and
down the path to his residence, " he said.
The policeman went to the Hebrew Home, but Mr. Solar refused to come
down from his apartment. When the officer went with the home director
and social worker to his apartment, Mr. Solar refused to sign the ticket
for what was the least offensive charge possible, the officer said. The
charge carried a $35 fine."
"Then he kicked me," Officer Stevens said.
[by Arlo Wagner, Washington Times, 6/18/91]
... For further information, contact CURE (304-258-LIFE).
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* Origin: The Handicap News BBS (1-203-337-1607) (1:141/420)
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