Homeless veteran with PTSD ticked for "camping" in van?

Watch Cop Ticket Homeless Fellow Veteran, Salute Him With 'Always Faithful' Motto
The Huffington Post
By Eleanor Goldberg
Posted: 07/29/2014

A homeless veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder who was ticketed for sleeping in his van hopes that, at the very least, his ordeal will set a new "precedent."

Aaron Coyler subsists on $849 per month in Social Security disability insurance, not nearly enough to support his living in an apartment in the Bay Area where he hopes to remain in order to be close to his 2-year-old son. So, for nearly a month, Coyler had been sleeping in his vehicle in a park, but was cited on Thursday by Alameda police for illegally camping, according to a video he posted to YouTube.

The homeless vet videotaped his interaction with the two officers, during which time Coyler explained that he has disabilities, little money and that there were no signs in sight indicating that he was doing anything wrong.

One of the officers responded by telling him to get a hotel room and when he learned that Coyler had served in the Marines, he revealed that he's also a veteran, before saying, "Semper Fi," referring to the Corps’ motto, "Semper Fidelis," which means "always faithful."

"Apparently not," Coyler says in the video. "I’m homeless. I have PTSD. I don’t have anywhere else to stay."

Coyler has been raising funds through a GoFundMe campaign, and hopes to eventually turn his van into a mobile outreach organization for the homeless.
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Toward the end he asked the officers, "What am I supposed to do? Die?"