An innocuous segment on KTLA about the best cars for road trips became a showdown between reporter Gayle Anderson and a parking attendant at a Santa Monica beach lot. While live on camera, the attendant started writing up numerous tickets for the 11 vehicles KTLA parked at the lot. Anderson claimed, while still on camera, that they had paid for the parking--the meter maid was having none of it and continued dispensing tickets. After some national gossip blogs picked up the hilarious video, the Santa Monica Police Department issued a public statement on this (yes, Santa Monica does have bigger problems).

From Santa Monica PD: "On May 25, 2010, at 8:58 a.m., traffic officers from the Santa Monica Police Department received a call for service from the parking manager of the 1550 beach lot; Central Parking. The caller reported that several vehicles were in the parking lot refusing to pay.

Upon arrival, a Traffic Service Officer was advised by the attendant that eleven vehicles were parked in parking spots and had not paid. The attendant advised that his supervisor approached the news crew at 7:40 a.m. and advised them they needed to pay for the parking spots. The news crew promised to pay for the spaces before 9:00 a.m. When the attendant approached the news crew at 8:50 a.m. to pay for the parking spaces, they ignored him. The parking attendant contacted his supervisor to call the Santa Monica Police Department.

A Traffic Service Officer approached the news crew and advised them she was there to address the issue of not paying for the parking spaces. A representative from the news crew stated they had already paid for the spaces and had a permit. The traffic service officer asked the representative for the receipt and permits. The representative walked away and did not come back.

At 9:20 a.m., the traffic service officer issued four citations for failing to pay to the vehicles that were parked in parking spaces. Although the news reporter stated on the live television broadcast that they had paid for the parking spaces at the time the officer was issuing the citations, the news crew actually paid for the parking spaces at 9:40 a.m., after the citations were issued."

· KTLA Parking Citations [SMPD]