Original Article Woman fined for crossing street finds global support Los Angeles Times Apr. 14, 2006 12:00 AM LOS ANGELES - First, 82-year-old Mayvis Coyle got fined. Then she got famous. She got a $114 jay-walking ticket, and now people the world over know her story about why she thinks the motorcycle cop did her wrong. Editorial writers from Sacramento to Scotland have rushed to Coyle's defense. Strangers in distant lands are rising to support her. Camera crews show up at her Sunland trailer unannounced, wanting Coyle to repeat the story once again. And she doesn't even have a phone. As Coyle tells her story, she was doing her best to shuffle across Foothill Boulevard, walking cane in one hand, groceries in the other, when the light changed from "WALK" to "DON'T WALK". But she simply couldn't get across the street in time. Enter a Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle officer, who gave her the ticket, which she is challenging in court. Her case has become more than just a traffic dispute; to her supporters, it's about the rights of senior citizens and pedestrians everywhere. "Stick Your Fine," summed up the Glasgow Daily Record. The San Fernando Police Department got so many calls and e-mails from people angry about the ticket, it was forced to send out a press release saying the Los Angeles Police Department, not the San Fernando cops, gave Coyle the citation. "I can't believe it," Coyle said Thursday, sitting outside her trailer. "This is the first ticket I ever got in my life ... for trying to cross the street. I always try to obey the laws of the land." The LAPD tells a different story, insisting that the officer noticed her beginning to cross the street after the "Don't walk" sign began flashing.