DAVENPORT, Fla. – The mayor of Davenport, Florida was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of using a dead woman's handicapped placard so she could park in handicapped spots at City Hall, according to officials with the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies said they began investigating Teresa Bradley, 60, after a tipster told them in November that Bradley was parking in handicapped spaces, even though she didn't have a handicapped placard.
Records from the Office of the Polk County Tax Collector confirmed that neither Bradley nor her husband had any documentation issued to them indicating that they were handicapped, a news release said.
During the investigation, deputies said they discovered that Bradley used the handicapped placard number of A7324747, which had been issued to a woman named Evelyn Klinger Letterman, who died in 2012.
Video from Davenport City Hall, embedded below, showed Bradley driving her black Ford Crown Victoria into one of the handicapped spots on the north side of the building, putting the placard on her rear-view mirror, then getting our of her vehicle, removing a wheeled briefcase from the trunk and going inside City Hall, deputies said.
When Bradley returned to her car after her meeting, she removed the placard from her mirror and drove away, according to a news release.
"We expect our elected officials to set the proper example. She not only violated the law, she embarrassed the citizens of Davenport with her illegal conduct," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
Bradley was charged with criminal use of a deceased person's ID, possession of an altered or counterfeit decal and unlawful use of a handicapped placard. She was released from the Polk County Jail after posting $2,250 bond.