An Atlantic City Public Works employee said he may take legal action after he was publicly accused of illegally parking in a handicap spot.
Assistant Public Works Director Ahmid Abdullah Sr. had his city-issued car parked in a spot at the Home Depot in Egg Harbor Township earlier this week.
This captured the attention of John Exadaktilos.
The Ducktown Tavern owner previously called police when Superintendent La’Quetta Small parked her city-issued vehicle in handicap spot at the Home Depot’s Absecon location.
“Ahmid A. Abdullah Assistant Director of Public Works does EXACTLY what (his) masters do!!!” Exadaktilos wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday.
There is just one thing, Abdullah told BreakingAC: He was legally parked.
Abdullah has a handicap placard and identification card issued to him.
Ahmid Abdullah Sr.'s identification to park in a handicap spot. BreakingAC has edited it to protect his personal information.He even provided BreakingAC with a photo of the handicap parking identification card issued to his name and Egg Harbor Township address. He declined to say what his disability is.
“If they would have just come over, my placard was in the window,” Abdullah said. “Even though I don’t have to, it wouldn’t have hurt me to just show them my card.”
Abdullah said a family member alerted him to the post on Exadaktilos’ page Tuesday, and “then the news article came behind it.”
He was referring to a story by radio host Harry Hurley that picked up on Exadaktilos’ post and claimed “Another Atlantic City, NJ Official & Illegal Handicapped Parking.”
“I don’t want anything coming back on the administration on my account,” Abdullah said.
“I wasn’t there,” Exadaktilos said after being told Abdullah does have a disability identification issued by the state Motor Vehicle Commission. “I was at work. A citizen of A.C. was at Home Depot and sent the pic. It wasn’t hanging, per the source.”
The comments on the post also devolved into attacks on Abdullah and his criminal history.
Mayor Marty Small has been criticized for his administration’s hiring of those with criminal backgrounds. The state has supported his efforts, calling the resort a “second-chance city.”
“It was a troubling thing that in the comments they started calling me a criminal,” Abdullah said. “All that’s in the past.”
He said he has earned his position, including going to school for training.
“Everybody has a past,” Abdullah said. “I try to do everything I can to keep the past in the past.”
Exadaktilos did add a second post saying that this reporter told him Abdullah produced documentation showing he parked legally.
He continued to question why Abdullah takes his city-issued vehicle home.
The assistant director is a 24-hour employee whose car is issued to take home, Mayor Marty Small explained.
“Atlantic City is lucky to have such a great assistant director of Public Works,” he added.
The program director for Townsquare Media, which owns WPG that Hurley works for, did not respond to an email about their report.
Hurley did update the story, writing: “NOTE: One source has contacted WPG Talk Radio 95.5 and advised that it appears that the driver (from yesterday) was legally allowed to park in a handicapped parking space. Therefore, we have removed this person's name and Atlantic City job title from our reporting to be fair and balanced.”
The headline remained, only with a question mark added.
Small issued a statement calling Exadaktilos and Hurley “two irrelevant clowns.”
“Once again, no one is talking about this administration’s performance on the job and where we have taken this city since October of 2019,” he told BreakingAC. “Those two irrelevant clowns need to worry about stopping the downward spiral of their career and respective businesses and stay out of city business.”
“The constant stalking behavior and racial profiling is very evident and people see it for what it is,” he said. “They need to get a life because it's very much giving, ‘I can't live, if living is without you.’”
Abdullah said he is looking into possible legal options for the posts and news report.
