LOGAN, Utah — A disagreement with parking enforcement over her car being booted has challenged the positive attitude of a Utah woman who has never backed down from a challenge.
In high school, Sarah Frei lost both her legs in a car crash after being hit by a drunk driver in Logan Canyon in 2020. Since then, the 19-year-old has moved away from home to attend school at Utah State University.
Frei was recently visiting a friend at the Millennial Towers apartment complex when the fire alarm went off just before midnight while she was on the fifth floor.
"We go to press the elevator button, but the elevators don’t work when the fire alarms go off," said Frei.
Five minutes later, at 11:45 p.m., first responders told Frei and her friend that the call was a false alarm. But her next concern was getting to her car parked in a lot next to the apartment building that boots vehicles at midnight.
"I was just so frustrated this whole time because I would’ve gone down to my car if I could’ve," Frei recalled.
At midnight, parking enforcement showed up, and at 12:02 a.m. they put a boot on Frei’s car. Around two minutes later, she says her friends showed up and tried to talk to the parking official who they say he did nothing.
"This is peoples worst nightmare of being in a wheelchair is being treated the way that I was treated," said Frei.
Immediately after the false alarm, Sarah said she called her father to tell him of the situation and how she was worried about getting booted.
"The owner called me back and I went over the whole story with them; he still said there’s nothing they could do," explained Greg Frei, Sarah's father. "He said, 'If I show leniency to one person, then I have to show leniency for everyone or it makes us look weak,' and I just said that is a bunch of hooey."
Parking Enforcement, LLC owner Dennis Shaw claims there are at least a dozen accessible parking spaces at Millennial Towers and Frei chose not to park in any of them. He added that there are also at least six accessible places on the property and she chose not to utilize any of those areas. Shaw claims had Sarah parked in any of those 18 parking spots at the complex, she wouldn’t have been booted.
But Greg Frei disagrees.
"She wasn’t able to park in the handicap stall in this parking lot because they were barricaded due to the construction going on," he explained. "She couldn’t park in the handicap stalls at Millennial Towers because you need a permit."
Shaw said the state law for a parking fee is $75 and that his company gave Frei a substantial discount, but Sarah says the issue is bigger than that.
"What bothers me the most, the money is a big deal, but the way that they treated me was what bothers me the most, and it’s like I never want to be treated that way again," said Frei.
With every bump of Sarah's wheelchair, the Frei family says they’re frustrated, but learning from her experience.
"[Sarah] said to me after we got done talking with us, 'I learned a lesson, live and learn,'" shared Greg through tears. "She’s amazing. She continues to be such a positive role model in my life and gives me strength every day."
