He’s a cop two states north of you. That’s why he posted what he did about Washington state law.
I’m in Washington state. The statue you cite for California does allow you to have the vehicle towed, but it still doesn’t make it parking in your driveway criminal trespass. It may well be, but that statue doesn’t say so.
I’m posting from England and I’m not a lawyer.
My road allows street parking unless the houseowner has a driveway.
I do have a driveway extending onto my property (parking for 3 cars!) and the local council painted a line on the roadside to confirm nobody should park there.
When an idiot did block my driveway, I asked them politely to move. They said they didn’t realise I had a driveway. :eek: :rolleyes:
The idiot wanted to go shopping first before moving, so I said I would call the police. The idiot promptly left.
Later a passing policeman confirmed that I had all the rights to parking on my property and the roadside in front of it, since I owned the driveway, which meant that nobody needed to park on the road, which helped avoid traffic congestion. He stated that I should not take the law into my own hands, but that the police would be glad to help move illegal parkers.
Same in New Jersey. As the “victim” you could sign a citizen’s complaint for trespass but I’m not going to charge the subject with defiant trespass until he is being defiant (ignoring a sign, ignoring a verbal warning, sitting on the living room couch).
You can call but we are not going to do it. It’s your property you can get it towed at your expense. The town is not going to pay to tow a car off of your property. See how this works? Laws vary greatly between states. You came off being very snippy to Thalion even though he was correct. Just because the laws are different in your state doesn’t make him wrong.
To have the vehicle towed at the owner’s expense, I assume you’d have to have a standing arrangement with a specific towing company, right?
No you just have to pay them.
Curious, it does not seem to work the way you described in Point Pleasant and LBI. The town does have unwelcome parkers towed out of the driveways of the residents. Does this indicate that the specific shore communities have there own laws or are they doing something they should not be doing?
Jim
Sorry too quick on the submit. Of course the tow company can refuse to do the work if they don’t want to get in the middle of a pissing contest between two people. Most of the towing off of private property that I have dealt with are from businesses and apartments clearing up their parking lots. I personally have never dealt with the exact example in the OP but I know how the law would work in this case.
As far as I know there is no state law that forbids the police from doing this, there just isn’t one that allows it. If a local community passes an ordinance to that effect then they can do it since it does not specifically go against state law. The police (in NJ) can only tow for certain reasons. Unregisterd vehicle, no insurance, parked in a prohibited zone, parked in an unsafe location, taken in for evidence (somehow I think I am forgetting one but I haven’t had any caffiene yet). If the car is towed for a reason not covered by law then it was done illegally.
**Thalion ** and Loach, assume that Svetlana’s property has multiple no trespassing and no parking signs.
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You are called to the scene by Svetlana, who points to the sign and then to the car. What result?
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You arrive at the scene as Svetlana is preventing Jedediah from entering her property to retrieve his car. What result?
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When you arrive at the scene, Svetlana shows you a videotape of Jedediah driving over her lawn to bypass her car. Jedediah is long gone, but you recognize hime as a repeat parking offender. What result?
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When you arrive on the scene, called by Jedediah, he is in his car waiting for Svetlana to get off of the phone. What result?
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Jedediah complains that somebody took a dump in his car and smashed the headlights. Svetlana’s car is parked behind his, but she’s not around. What result?
Real life example, although not in a residential setting, and not on my own private property.
When I was in high school, I worked for a cleaning company. I cleaned a law office and a bank after hours.
One night, I got finished cleaning the bank and went out back where my car was parked in one of two spots reserved, in a large lot, for the bank. I called the police and they said there wasn’t anything they could do in that circumstances. They suggested I go and kill time somewhere.
I sat and waited on the trunk of my car for an hour and eventually the owners of the Caddy showed up. I told them that they had blocked me in, and the person said, yes, he knew and then this arrogance ass when on to tell me that this was his bank and people shouldn’t park there. (I was hired by the agency, so we didn’t know each other.) I let him know I was the person who cleaned his office and I didn’t like what he did.
This, of course, is one of the problems of people taking the law into their own hands. He thought that he would teach someone a lesson, but all it did was make sure that his office was dusty for the rest of the time I worked there.
This guy seems to think it is OK to block another car. On public property. And he’s a judge.
A) I assumed there were no signs which is why trespass was not an issue.
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Still can’t tow. It’s possible the indivdual can be charged with trespassing but I can’t tow the car. By law in NJ there is only one parking violation that can be written on private property, handicap parking. Unless it is covered by a township ordinance I can do nothing to the car. For example in my town many fire zones in parking lots are covered in a township ordinance. I can write a summons and tow it if I find a violator. If there is a no parking sign but it is not specifically covered in the township ordinance I can’t write a ticket. We have no ordinance covering people’s driveways or Svetlana’s in particular.
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Svetlana can not deprieve him of his property. I would attempt to mediate and get Jed on his way with his vehicle. Hopefully the situation can be handled with a little verbal Judo. I would document it in case it happens again and Jed can be charged with defiant trespass since I warned him once already.
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Parking has nothing to do with it, see above. It’s private property. If he damaged her property while driving over the lawn then he can be charged with criminal mischief.
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I think that was covered already.
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Can’t really dust for feces. A report for criminal mischief will be taken. If there were no witnesses or other evidence it will remain unsolved with Svetlana named as a suspect in the report. If Svetlana is parked on the street blocking the driveway and I could not contact her I would write a ticket for 39:4-138d blocking a private or public driveway and tow it, thus letting Jed leave with his car. If she just pulled in behind him, parked legally on her own property, not much I can do. If you threw this one in here because of the tow for evidence thing, it doesn’t appy here. If we wanted to process the shitty car it would be done at the scene. When we tow for evidence the car itself was used in a car or we have to secure it while going for a search warrant.
Damn I read that wrong, I thought you were saying that I *was * assuming there were signs there. The no parking signs don’t count. The only signs that count are put up by a government agency (depending on if it is a state, county or municipal road). Any signs on private property are not valid unless it is somehow covered in a township ordinance. Jed can be arrested for trespass if he is ignoring the multiple no trespassing signs. It is a summons and release offense. I still can’t tow the car.
Thanks for playing. 
If you were called to the scene and his car was there, but he was not, I’m guessing you wouldn’t wait around for him. In your jurisdiction, is there a ticket or summons that you could leave on the vehicle?
A summons complaint for a criminal charge is different than a motor vehicle summons. It is actually the same form that a warrant is put on (81/2 by 11). An effort would be made to serve him in person. If not possible it would be mailed.
Before we moved into our apartment complex, a similar situation arose. One neighbor parked in another’s parking space. When the rightful owner of the space came home, they parked directly behind the offending vehicle, and refused to move. Emotions ran high, the police were called, and the blocking-neighbor was charged with “illegal imprisonment,” despite the fact that it was their space that was being used, IIRC. This is in Florida, by the way.
And were would a homeowner have the car towed to? The police could have it sent to an impound lot, a private citzen can’t do that can they? I wonder if Svetlana could sue Jedediah for the cost of towing (Svetlana has alot of time on her hands and can hold a grude).
I think Svetlana should have parked him in and called the police to have a talk with the owner of the car. When **Jebediah ** asks her to move the car, she should express her displeasure with what he did and find out why he did it. She should then take her time about moving it. Possibly even pretending she cannot find the keys if she knows the police will be there soon. Of course it would be a good idea not to antagonize a complete stranger very much, so she will have to be careful in her judgment call.
Translated, call the police and annoy the bum a little.
Jim
How about you read what I actually type next time before you come off snippy.
I can call the police. . .
then I can have you towed.
See how that works? I’m obliged by law to first contact the local traffic law enforcement agency, then I can have cars parked illegally on my private property (since I own a single family dwelling) towed.
Not to mention, I specifically said Thalion would be wrong in my jurisdiction, so there was really no reason for you to point out what I’d already acknowledged in my post.