Blood Donation Amnesty Parking Program Backfires

SPRINGFIELD, AZ — A recent amnesty program ran by the City of Springfield parking program to assist the United States Blood Drive Coalition (USBDC), quickly backfired earlier this week when dozens of citizens were sent to the emergency room. Following the examples of other amnesty programs such as Toys for Tickets where citizens can donate toys in exchange for the dismissal of parking tickets, the City of Springfield parking programs Blood for Boots started off with a lot of success. A “boot” is a wheel-lock device the parking program uses to immobilize vehicles with outstanding parking tickets greater than $300.00. “This was the biggest September ever for our annual blood drive, and the parking program had so much to do with this. We just wished they would have worked with us to limit the number of donations a citizen could make,” says Heather Beasley, Executive Director for the USBDC. The amnesty program would allow citizens to donate one pint of blood which would dismiss one parking ticket. Many citizens with over $300.00 in outstanding parking tickets, saw the chance to get off the boot list by donating multiple pints of blood. Justin Tabor who owes 17 outstanding parking tickets for $935.00, was hospitalized after exchanging his 7th pint of blood for the dismissal of 7 parking tickets. Natasha Robbins (11 tickets; $715.00), was hospitalized after donating 9 pints of blood. At press time, the City of Springfield parking program failed to respond to our inquiries but has recently announced on their website that the Blood for Boots program has ended.