Last week, a storm hit Seattle, but Parking Enforcement Officer Stan Estaban was undeterred. He did his rounds. He drives a scooter. He got in and out of the scooter, enforcing parking, while thunder clanged above him and rain fell around him. When he finished his shift, he sat in his scooter, and perhaps he drew a deep breath and sighed.
Right then a big ‘ol wet dog bounded in the scooter and planted himself on Parking Enforcement Officer Stan Estaban’s lap.
Presumably, Estaban said “Ho ho, what’s this?” or some such, but Jonah Spangenthal-Lee of the SPD Police Blotter didn’t specify. What he did report is that Estaban “climbed out from underneath his new friend and tried to shoo the dog out of the scooter, but he wouldn’t budge.”
That’s right: The dog was taking over the parking enforcement scooter. You’ll remember from your own interactions with parking enforcement scooters that those things are one-seaters. The dog had that one seat. He wasn’t giving it up. It came down to this: Wet Seattle storm vs. nice and dry parking enforcement scooter, and the dog knew which team he was going to play on.
Besides, Estaban basically gave him the seat. That guy can find another seat.
Estaban, to his credit, agreed. He reached into the scooter and turned on the heat, to make the dog more comfortable, while he called Animal Control. The dog had a collar but no tags. A group of walkers then came by and told him that the dog was following them earlier and appeared scared by the storm.
But he was in good hands now — parking enforcement hands. While they waited, another parking enforcement officer swung by with some dog biscuits. The dog had basically hit the jackpot — a nice one-seater, heat, and dog biscuits. Animal Control finally swung by, picked him up, and found his owner the next day.
