VIDEO: More tow truck mischief when city drags car on rotors
Click above to watch video over at WJLA
Wednesday we showed you a clip of the Shanghai Lady exacting revenge on a tow truck driver taking her beloved crossover. Even though the video was quite possibly staged, it gives us a tiny thrill to see the roles reversed like that. Today, it's another story, but unfortunately this one doesn't end so well for the driver or her poor Audi.
After finding her Audi sitting on cinder blocks on Thanksgiving morning, Chris Thompson called police and her insurance agency to report the theft. While waiting for replacement wheels and tires, the car sat on the street, still up on the blocks. Meanwhile, a neighbor who thought the car might have been stolen and dropped on their street called police to report it. A $250 ticket was placed on the Audi even though the full police report of the wheel theft was clearly visible in the windshield.
What happened next seems almost sacrilegious. The city towed her car with no wheels on it. They just winched it onto a flatbed by dragging it on its rotors. They didn't even remove the cinder blocks beforehand. As you can imagine, the owner is quite upset and the poor Audi faces a long time in the shop and tens of thousands of dollars in repairs. Click over to WJLA to watch the video, but be forewarned: It is a bit wonky. You may have to watch Regis and Kelly or an Acura ad several times before it plays. Just be patient and keep clicking. Thanks for the tip, Seminole!
[Source: WJLA]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Mobius_1 8:17AM (12/12/2008)
WTF. That is one of the dumbest things I've heard of.
Let's send that Shanghai Lady there to deal with them.
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max 9:46AM (12/12/2008)
DAMN YOU POHANKA ACURA!!!!
SJ 8:17AM (12/12/2008)
Incompetence clearly knows no bounds!
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fmwso 8:25AM (12/12/2008)
Damn!!! This is outrageous!!! Why didn't they just take some time to read the damn police report. Stupid people.... btw, the acura ad is so annoying.. thanks for letting me know lol..
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shark_sandwich 8:32AM (12/12/2008)
I would like to think this is a rare occurrence, but back in August this happened to a guy whose wheels were stolen, also in the DC Metro area (I wonder if it was the same tow company?). They just dragged the car on its rotors, right up into the flatbed. As a result, he had thousands more dollars done in damage... Seriously, WTF.
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dinnercoat 8:39AM (12/12/2008)
Was he able to get redress from the city for the damages they caused?
shark_sandwich 10:19AM (12/12/2008)
I believe he had to make two claims, one for the theft, one for the tow damage. My understanding was that the tow company's insurance would ultimately cover it.
Still, it's blatant negligence/laziness - I wonder how much longer that driver worked for the company.
David 8:45AM (12/12/2008)
Ghetto city + ghetto neighbors + ghetto tow truck drivers = ghettoized Audi.
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tenfifteen 10:07AM (12/12/2008)
Capitol Hill: Ghetto? Hardly. Maybe instead of "ghetto," you should use the word you really want to.
Phil 11:29AM (12/12/2008)
Guess you haven't spent much time in DC. It's a world class city and with some amazing treasures. But I assume you are using the word "ghetto" to imply something else far more offensive.
Beanie 2:57PM (12/12/2008)
Yeah, Capitol Hill is definitely NOT Ghetto. Trust me, I live there.
Spiel 8:46AM (12/12/2008)
F---. Why do stupid people be allowed to live? There is NO justification for this, absolutely none. The idiot who wrote the ticket, well, is a freakin idiot. What the heck were you thinking. And the tow truck driver, is freakin greedy and an idiot. You know deep inside, even with his 8th grade education, he knew this was wrong, but didn't want to pass up $$.
Oh man, I haven't been fired up forever. My wife is right, mess with anything that I own but my car.
I'd contribute to a fund to the owner to see her sue the heck out of the city and the tow truck driver.
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BoneHeadOtto 11:45PM (12/13/2008)
"Why do stupid people be allowed to live?"
Is that statement is suicidal?
Kattleox 11:09AM (12/12/2008)
idk. Is you suicidal? But is that statement is suicidal, is is kind of arbitrary. Is has the same meaning.
Edsel 8:47AM (12/12/2008)
An inbred government bureaucracy, incompetence at every level, and no compassion.
Imagine the experience awaiting all of us with nationalized healthcare, nationalized banks, nationalized auto industry, nationalized dry cleaners......
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Frank 8:55AM (12/12/2008)
Just remember the words of Tom Daschele, who has been picked to the Great One's Secretary of Health & Human Services, speaking of the airport security workers after 9/11 "If you don't federalise them, you can't proffesionalise them". That's a paraphrase not an exact quote. My translation is this: "If you don't governmentalise them, you can't unionize them (and turn them into loyal Democrat voters). He will be helping to draft socialized medicine legislation. Happy times everyone!
JC06 8:54AM (12/12/2008)
i'm not fan of audis, but it made my stomach turn watching that. kinda dumb to see that the thieves did less damage than the city.
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MikeMidd 8:54AM (12/12/2008)
As a resident of the District of Columbia... let me tell you, this type of idiocy is about par for the course.
Why would we expect them to read the police report, or run the tags, or do anything else that might determine what is going on? That would involve actual brainpower. Some of DC's public workers can barely be expected to breathe on their own, let alone actually do work.
No statehood until we can function properly as a moderately-sized city!
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DJS4000 8:55AM (12/12/2008)
holy mother, how freaking retarded can a single person be? pulling the car not only off the cinder blocks, but on the rotors onto the truck. what the hell was he thinking? for that matter, what the hell was this police woman thinking? what was she writing down anyway? goodness, i cringed when they started to pull the car away...
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ronzo 9:01AM (12/12/2008)
And if Obama has his way, he'll have millions of more of these 'government workers' let loose on our nation's crumbling infrastructure.
I wonder if the infrastructure can withstand the onslaught...
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