Shocking moment man in a wheelchair was stripped of his transit pass by police officer because he 'didn't have written PROOF' he was disabled
Josh Gardner
A wheelchair-bound San Diego man was stripped of his transit pass before he was able to board one of the city's trolleys because he didn't have proof of his disability.
Joey Canales, 31, took some shocking cell phone video as a transit cop wrote him a citation Friday and took away his discount bus pass.
'It's his job to confiscate my card because I don't have sufficient proof I'm disabled,' Canales said in the video. 'Obviously I am. I've been disabled since I was three days old.'
n the video, which he posted to Facebook and urged all his followers to share, Canales then points the camera at himself as he sits in his wheelchair.
The bulk of the video is focused on the officer, though, who appears annoyed that he's being recorded but who Canales says acted with professionalism.
Nonetheless, Canales was appalled at what the officer was doing.
'I have an obvious disability,' he said. 'I'm not trying to scam you. My disability is not hidden.'
Canales says the rule that being in a wheelchair is not proof enough that a person is disabled left him helpless--his only means of getting to work taken away.
MTA spokesman Robb Schupp said in a statement to NBC San Diego they require 'all people with discounted fares to carry proof of eligibility.'
That proof includes Medicare cards and disabled placard receipts.
But policy or not, Canales' outrage has been shared by people around the world since he posted the video.
'We've reached as far north as Canada and now all the way to Ireland! Way to go, Facebook!' he wrote Sunday.
The video has been shared some 12,000 times and viewed over 300,000 times as of Sunday.
Canales hopes the increased awareness will help get the MTA regulation changed.