Judge Frank Caprio is known for starring in a television series called Caught in Providence, but he’s also known for his generosity and humanity when charging or dismissing parking violations. The veteran municipal judge in Providence, Rhode Island is quite popular and followed on the Internet as well as on TV.
When Caprio resided over a woman named Andrea’s case earlier this month, she was hoping that Caprio would have mercy on her and dismiss the four parking tickets she had accrued over the past year when taking into consideration the outstanding circumstances. When he found out that many of the issues started when her son was killed exactly a year ago by her own brother, he said,
“I think we can all express sympathy to you and understand the trauma that you have experienced.”
Her son’s murder was just the first in a long line of hardships Andrea endured last year. Two months after her son passed, Andrea was deprived of her social security check because her son had owed $75 to the agency and they held her responsible. When she went to their office to settle the matter, she came out to find a parking ticket on her car.
Soon after, her landlord evicted her, which she decided to fight in court and wound up losing the case. Upon exiting the court, she had a parking ticket on her car even though it was clear that the meter was broken. She attempted to find help at legal services to overturn the decision, and when she left that office, she had yet another parking ticket waiting for her.
When she arrived in court for her parking tickets, Judge Frank Caprio informed her that she also had outstanding tickets from 2004, 2005, and 2006, which she wasn’t even aware of. He immediately dismissed these prior to hearing her story because the court didn’t have records of the tickets anymore. Caprio then informed her of two other tickets totaling $50 from 2014 and 2015 that he intended to make her pay for in addition to the most recent tickets.
“It’s like I can’t win,” Andrea tearfully told Judge Caprio.
It was after hearing the potential charges against her that Andrea broke down and explained her story. On top of all this, she mentioned that she was still paying off her son’s funeral, was on antidepressants, and that she had recently been forced to come up with money for a new apartment after her eviction. Overwhelmed by all this information, Caprio initially decided to reduce the over $400 worth of ticket fees she owed to $50, which she was very grateful for. Before she left, however, he asked Andrea if paying $50 would put her out of money and she said that she had the money on her and would leave the court that day with $5. Refusing to allow her to leave with so little money, Caprio dismissed all of the ticket fees and wished her the best of luck.
This generosity and understanding is something that more judges should exude around the country everyday. There are so many that offer light sentences to offenders of serious crimes and others that unjustly give strict sentences for minuscule offenses that it’s no wonder such a caring judge like Caprio is making headlines for showing a bit of compassion.
Watch the video below to witness the moment yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og4bJF_gbKQ
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