Long story short:
My stepson is having a smoke by his car. The cops pull up because there was a report of a carjacker in the neighborhood. The cops refuse to look at the registration paperwork and because the car was just purchased, the title is still being processed into his name so it came up as the old owner. Today Mrs. Cad faxes over the paperwork that yes he bought the car and here is the pink slip showing that to spring him from jail and basically the cops attitude was “Wrong place - wrong time.” Her retort was, “Do you mean standing by his car in front of his apartment?”
However you boil it down, it was a false arrest. I know some lawyer will explain that legally it wasn’t but my attitude is when a police office refuses to look at a piece of paper that exhonerates you, especially under “there is a guy around here . . .” sort of probable cause, it is ethically a false arrest.
So he needs to get his car out of impound. Is he still liable for those towing and impound fees even though the cops admitted they fucked up? Can the police get those fees waived (assuming they contract out). If he has to pay the fees, are there systems in place to get reimbursed or does he have cause to take to police department to court for the fees and/or false arrest?
Had a simular problem with the San Jose PD. I have never been lied to over and over as when dealing with the PD. You know how to tell if a SJPD member is not telling the truth? Their lips are moving. And as far as IA concerned, they are not the rat squad but the white wash squad. Before dealing directly with the PD I normally thought those who complaind about police misconduct were generally miss stating what happened. Now if a cop told me it was sunny out side I will put on rain gear before going out. Now that I have the vent out.
You son will have to pay the impound and towing fees.
Do not expect any help from the PD so you will have to dig, but I got a form from the city to file a claim against the city for my expences. In time I recieved two checks from the city. ONe for the impound fees, the other for the towing fees.
Yes, he has to pay those fees (if he wants to get the car out).
The towing company actually towed the car, and are entitled to be paid for that work.
The impound lot actually stored the car, and are entitled to be paid for that storage.
The police department/city might reimburse him for these fees, if they agreed that it was a mistake made by one of their cops. Sounds like they don’t agree with that.
So he could sue them in Civil Court for false arrest, and include these fees as some of the damages he suffered. But that’s expensive, and I don’t think he has much of a chance of winning this one.
I had something similar happen when my car got towed because I had parked in what was a no-parking zone during the week, but on the weekend it was okay to park there. I needed my car so I paid the fee, but after talking to just about everyone at city hall, I finally got reimbursed about two months later. This was a small city in Florida, and I’m not sure how it compares to Torrance.
Sorry for the slight hijack, but what is “IA” an abbreviation for here? Is it short for “I am”? If not, it’s driving me nuts.