Trick to Removing Parking Brake Handle

Agreed. Just take out the whole thing and work on the bench.

I replaced the black handle on my Duster. I drilled a hole (about the same diameter as the handle diameter) into a piece of 2x4 then I cut the 2x4 down the center of the hole making a half-moon shape to cradle the handle to keep it from breaking. I also drilled a hole at the bottom of the half-moon so that the pin can go into when driven out. I placed the handle in the wood cradle and drove the pin out using a punch. Do the reverse to install the new handle. I hope this all made sense.