The following is a transcript of a report by Team 4 investigator Jim Parsons that first aired Feb. 16, 2007, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.

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In Friday's Team 4 Investigation, investigative reporter Jim Parsons confronts parking cheaters, people who park in special spots for the disabled even though they're just fine.

Getting your hands on a disability placard in Pennsylvania is much easier than in other states, and getting caught using someone else's carries a less serious punishment than getting a speeding ticket.

When you're looking for a parking space, it seems like everybody has one of those blue plastic hang tags with the wheelchair symbol but you.

But sometimes, people tend to question whether those using the placards are really disabled.

"There are people who do qualify for the placards that do have serious disabilities, but it may not necessarily be visible to you and I," said Kurt Myers of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

OK. Fair enough. One woman Team 4 saw might have had a heart condition, while another gentleman might have a breathing problem, but we also witnessed a man who hung his disability placard, jumped out of his car, walked briskly into a bank at Ross Park Mall and was almost running when he returned.

Team 4 also witnessed a teenager at Pittsburgh Mills hang a disability placard, park his truck, jump out and run into the mall.

Team 4 decided to stop wondering and start confronting, so we watched a car with a disability placard take the last remaining designated parking spot at Pittsburgh Mills.

Out popped three teenagers, and into the mall they went. When they came back an hour and a half later, Parsons was waiting.

Parsons: "Why are you parked in a handicapped spot?"

Zack Zaremba: "Uh, my aunt's car is parked in a handicapped spot. We're waiting for her to get back."

Parsons: "You're waiting for your aunt to get back?"

Zaremba: "Yeah. We're just dropping stuff off at the car."

Parsons: "We saw you pull in. You didn't have your aunt with you."

Zaremba: "She's here."

Parsons: "I don't think she is. I think you came here with these two young ladies, and you took out the placard."

"I drive around for half an hour, 45 minutes trying to find a spot," said Rick McWilliams, who is a fully independent person with a disability.

McWilliams is a homeowner, works full time and goes to school at night.

"I really cherish my independence, and I thank God I'm able to do what I can do," said McWilliams. "And whenever people take these spaces, it makes me less independent and more dependent."

Parsons: "Does it seem to you like there is an awful lot of disabled people in Pennsylvania?"

McWilliams: "I think there's a lot of people using the placards. I don't know about people with disabilities."

More than 700,000 Pennsylvanians own one of the placards. A Team 4 analysis of Pennsylvania's law reveals it's easier to obtain and keep the placard than in the neighboring states to our west.

West Virginians have to get a medical doctor's signature to obtain a disability placard. In Ohio, it has to be an MD or a chiropractor, but in Pennsylvania, you can get a disability placard with the OK of a podiatrist, chiropractor, physician's assistant, nurse practitioner or even a police officer.

The law also allows Pennsylvanians, once they get their disability placard, to keep it for life. In Ohio and West Virginia, a doctor has to recertify the person's disability every five years.

When they apply for renewal, they don't have to have the renewal certified again by a doctor.

And in Ohio, the law requires state officials to compare the list of people with disability placards to those people who have died to make sure those placards get recalled. Pennsylvania relies on the honor system.

"There is a requirement that placard be turned back to the department," said Myers. "That is something that's based upon the individual's family members doing that."

The penalty for misusing a placard is the same as a parking ticket with a maximum $100 fine.

That might be why another shopper that Team 4 noticed decided it was no big deal to park her Mercedes in a designated spot for persons with disabilities at Ross Park Mall.

Parsons: "You parked in a handicapped spot with a placard. Does that placard belong to you?"

Beverly Brown: "No, it belongs to my mother."

Parsons: "OK. Do you have your mother with you?"

Brown: "No, not right now."

Parsons: "Do you know that's wrong to use that placard when the person who had it issued to them is not with you?"

Brown: "Yes, I do."

Parsons: "But you did it anyway."

Brown: "Yeah, because I just had to run in for a few minutes and right back out. That's why."

"I would like to ask her why she did that, and does she not realize that there are people who actually really need these spaces?" said McWilliams.

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