Santa Claus gets parking ticket from Scrooge cop
Updated Wednesday, December 17th 2008, 7:11 AM
Warga/News Santa/Chip Cafiero can't muster up a belly laugh for the $115 parking ticket he got.
Ho, ho, huh?
Santa's naughty list just got a bit longer after an overzealous parking agent slapped him with a summons.
Kriss Kringle - aka Chip Cafiero - vows to fight the city for handing him a $115 double-parking ticket while he was delivering toys to kids in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, on Black Friday.
"I saw this [traffic agent] jump out of her car and I said to one of my elves, 'She's going to give me a ticket,'" said Cafiero, who annually dons a long, white beard and red suit to bring Christmas cheer and gifts.
"The kids started crying: 'That's Santa's car! That's Santa's car!' But this grinch just went ahead and fined me anyways.
"Talk about a complete lack of Christmas spirit.
"I stood up and yelled, 'Ho! Ho! Ho!' real loud to get her attention, but she just looked at me and scanned my car," Cafiero said.
Cafiero, 60, a retired schoolteacher who organizes community events, was riding a horse-drawn carriage along Third Ave., handing out toys and candy canes to children aspart of Borough President Marty Markowitz's campaign to encourage people to shop in the area.
His carriage was flanked by a Chevy Suburban, which carried the toys and protected the horse from traffic.
The convoy was stopped near 97th St. just after 1:30 p.m. when the agent spotted the double-parked Chevy and quickly issued Santa a summons.
St. Nick said the traffic agent will discover a losing ticket under her tree on Christmas morning.
"I told her she was on my naughty list - but I had a kid on my lap or else Santa would have really let her have it," he said.
"I realize I was double-parked, but for goodness' sake I was handing out gifts to children.
"We weren't blocking traffic. Can't these agents show a little common courtesy?"
No court date has been set. Cafiero wouldn't say whether he'll make his appearance as Kriss Kringle.
State Sen. Martin Golden (R-Bay Ridge), who attended the event with Markowitz and Santa, called the ticket "ridiculous" and said it was an unnecessary burden during Santa's busiest time of the year.
"It looks like Santa Claus will have to make a special trip from the North Pole to traffic court during his busy season," he said.
An NYPD spokesman refused to comment.
With Christina Boyle and Wil Cruz
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