Police arrested 3 year veteran repo man Jose Rodriguez on May 30 as he was about to tow a detective's car, which was wanted by the bank for three missed payments.
He was driving by the 120th Precinct stationhouse and came across a Nissan Maxima wanted by the bank because of three missed payments.
He said he logged the Maxima into his tracking system, lifted it onto his tow truck when: "I was stopped by one officer completely blocking me in saying, 'Hey, that's a police officer's car,' He told me, what I'm doing? 'You got to drop the car,'"
But the repo man said he told them it wasn't that easy: once a car is on the tow truck and logged in, it's the bank's property.
Rodriguez said police then surrounded him, accused him of auto theft, and arrested him for possession of stolen property.
Rodriguez said one officer reached into his truck to take his surveillance cameras, but not before one of the cameras snapped a photo. Rodriguez says he has the image because the camera immediately sent it to the cloud.
The officers removed the Maxima from his tow truck, drove it away, and took him into custody, where he spent more than 20 hours in jail.
When he appeared in court, the felony charge disappeared, replaced by misdemeanor charges of falsifying documents and possession of police scanners, allegations he denies.
Rodriguez was released, but the orange boot that police placed on his tow was not. It stayed on his towtruck for 8 days
The district attorney's office tells NY1 it is "normal procedure" for police officers to hold a vehicle as evidence in a criminal case, but it could not be determined how common it is to hold it for two weeks when the charges are misdemeanors.
Ironically, Rodriguez's company, Finest Towing and Auto Body, is a huge supporter of the NYPD. Rodriguez's partner's truck is decorated in NYPD blue, and the company has donated more than $20,000 to the Blue Lives Matter movement since September.
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2019/06/14/repo-man-arrested-for-trying-to-repossess-nypd-officer-personal-vehicle-gets-tow-truck-back
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2019/06/08/repo-man-speaks-out-after-arrest-for-repossessing-car-belonging-to-nypd-officer-staten-island
Nice looking rig. 20 hours in jail for attempting to re-po a LEO's car? And then they 'accidentally' hold it for twice as long as is standard procedure? This is called 'punishment by process.' Don't know if he'll sue, but Blue Lives Matter probably lost a major donor.
ReplyDeleteDespicable behavior, and all the more so when it come from people who are supposesed to protects us from the bad guys.
ReplyDeleteOn a lighter note, when living in NYC I once saw a tow truck decorated with "DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY TOWING Co." on its side....