Andrew Bynum's blown it: The Lakers star's created a PR nightmare for himself. The pro basketball player should've known NBC prides itself on catching violators of handicapped parking spaces. The two, illegally used handicapped spots on July 16 is Time #2. Bynum's already been busted for disrespect May 4, Time #1. And he simply doesn't care.
It seems Andrew Bynum is prone to hissy fits lately. The Lakers player made headlines -- in the wrong way -- in the 2011 season after flooring Minnesota Timberwolves' Michael Beasley and Dallas Mavericks guard J.J. Barea in the hardest of hard. Now Andrew Bynum has been caught in the hardest of personal fouls -- stealing handicapped parking spots. Make that not one space, but two. And make that a completely empty parking lot availalbe for legal parking, as close as the next spot over.
The pro basketball player was caught red-handed, getting back into his car that was parked across two spots allocated for disabled persons in Los Angeles county, California.
Misused handicapped parking placards are a huge problem in California, with complaints that placards are fraudulently used by people to whom they were never issued. While abuse of California placards has become common, most people that don't have a handicapped placard tend to be smart enough not to park in those prime spots -- for good reason. The tickets' prices are hefty, weighing in at about $350 per citation. California drivers now know to avoid even briefly stopping, for a drop-off, or pausing on the blue line of any marked handicapped spot: It's well-know that cops can, and will, issue tickets for even fast violations related to any of the above.
Unless you seriously qualify for one of the spaces, or want to go broke, it's best to treat those blue lines like 'kryptonite'.
Then there's Andrew Bynum: It seems the Lakers man is a bit arrogant -- and not really 'the man', or he'd have more courtesy for people who really are disabled and in pain. Bynum may not need the money, for paying out on those tickets, but people do need those parking space to be able to continue with their daily lives. In short, it's a crappy thing to do to someone -- to steal their only access to the stores and places they, too, need to go.
Despite two knee surgeries, Andrew Bynum has no handicapped parking placard issued in his name.
Andrew Bynum's shown on video footage provided by NBC, the basketball star quickly throwing groceries into a dark BMW convertible parked at a severe angle, taking up two consecutive parking spaces in front of a store. It seems the Lakers player didn't want anyone accidentally bumping into his shiny car -- though those handicapped parking violations are about to double the price of pretty much any dent or ding. The first spot Andrew Bynum took up was a regular handicapped parking spot, while the second space was designated for handicapped van accessibility. It all happened outside of a grocery store, the upscale Bristol Farms Market location in Playa del Rey, California. That Bristol Farms happens to be located by the Lakers' practice facility that physically lies in El Segundo.
Not only didn't the surprised Bynum apologize on-scene when caught by NBC's Joel Grover, which would've been the wise move -- since he knew he'd been caught on video -- he also hasn't apologized since. On video, NBC 4 Los Angeles caught footage of an angry Bynum, the 23-year-old Lakers player throwing a hissy fit over being caught and slamming his car door in the face of Joel Grover after refusing to comment about the violation. Bynum also refused to respond to NBC's questioning as to whether the Lakers player was aware the news station has specifically investigated the problem of people illegally parking in handicapped spots.
Perhaps the basketball star's worst screw-up is that Andrew Bynum has apparently skipped out on the most powerful investment every celebrity needs -- quite simply, a stellar public relations specialist. Or, more accurately, it seems Bynum's skipped out on any PR person altogether. It seems it's time to learn to spend that cash a bit more wisely.
Bynum's agent certainly isn't acting as the pro basketball's star PR man. The agent apparently refused to return NBC phone calls or communication. End result: Bynum's escapades and handicapped parking violations are now scattered all over nationwide news stations.
The Lakers player isn't showing a huge amount of intelligence with this handicapped parking scenario. People tend to learn once they've been busted once. Don't include Andrew Bynum in that poll.
Bynum's been busted on illegally parking in handicapped spaces prior -- caught by the Los Angeles Times when reporter T.J. Simers received an e-mailed version of a May 4, 2011 snapshot that clearly shows Bynum parking his vehicle across a white-and-blue painted handicapped space -- with clearly posted signage -- outside of a Bank of America location in California. Either the media has become very nice in protecting Bynum, or Google's search algorithm is really causing thigns to be come 'lost': The L.A. Times reference of May photographs with Bynum's vehicle seem to be entirely absent. It seems maybe that batch was never published. Had those pics been made public, it may have avoided the current scandal the Lakers player is now facing.
Magically, that bank was also located in Playa del Rey -- again, near the Lakers El Segundo practice facility.
So now we all know where Andrew Bynum routinely shops and banks. Bristol Farms in Playa del Rey and Bank of America in Playa del Rey. Who wants to bet his barber's in the same neighborhood? If Bynum's lucky, that barbershop's got private parking.
Apparently people are getting sick and tired of Andrew Bynum parking the places he shouldn't be. It was just two months ago that the L.A. Times got a tip-off about Bynum's blatant parking violation. And now it's reportedly an L.A. Parking Enforcement official who snapped photos of Bynum's illegally parked BMW in two handicapped spaces at Bristol Farms Market in Playa del Rey in July 2011 before reportedly provided those pictures to NBC 4 directly -- and, it seems, exclusively. Here's the NBC video of Joel Grover's meet-up with Andrew Bynum over the star's illegal handicapped parking violations.
It's a little unclear as to why city employees would be providing photographs to one news agency, on an exclusive basis while barring other news agencies, but perhaps that's a different scandal. Maybe CBS is looking for something new to cover.