If you live in Minneapolis then you know that the words “snow emergency” mean that your car will be towed faster than you can turn your head if it’s not parked on the correct side of the road. Tow companies make a fortune off of unlawfully parked automobiles, which is why their response time for towing an illegally parked vehicle seems to exceed their response time for towing a broken down vehicle that is obstructing traffic. But sometimes tow companies get overzealous and they remove an unlawfully parked car owned by members of the oligarchy. When that happens tow company owners get to spend some time in a cage:
An ongoing federal lawsuit in Portland, Oregon accuses police officers of arresting two tow truck company employees after they towed unmarked police cars parked illegally on a private lot.
The five cars belonged to police officers and a DEA agent who were working on a nearby sting. A business owner at the lot says the cars were parked there over a span of two days. The owner first put a note on the windshields of the cars asking them to be moved. The next day, he spoke with one of the officers.
The officer allegedly “responded with expletives” to the note and insisted the cars would not be moved. The business owner then called the property’s trustee, who called a towing company. The cars were towed.
Later, several police officers showed up at the tow company’s office to get their cars back. Per protocol, employees of the company asked for proof of ownership of the vehicles. The officers were unable to display any information proving they owned the cars. They left and said they would return later.
Soon after, a group of cops both in uniforms and street clothes returned to the office. Then, according to the lawsuit, Sgt. Andrew Roberts showed his badge to the tow company employees and insisted that was all he needed to retrieve the cars. When the employees didn’t comply, they were arrested.
When a man in a funny looking costume that includes a badge and a gun walks into your business or home and makes demands you either company or get beaten and/or kidnapped. The tow company in this story made two mistakes. First, they towed vehicles that belonged to the oligarchs’ enforcers. Second, they didn’t do exactly as they were told when the costume-clad psychopaths with badges showed up. Because of those two mistakes the tow company employees spent time in a cage and now have to beg the oligarchs’ court system to be lenient and transfer some tax money from the city that employs the police to the employees of the tow company. Whether the courts will grant such a gift or not is up in the air.
But this story further demonstrates that rules are for us little people, not for those in charge. When we park unlawfully we will face parking finds and impound fees. But when the police park unlawfully they will arrest the tow company employees and take their vehicles back without paying the impound fee.