Complaints about towing cars
We recently received a cell phone video which had been recorded in the process of towing two cars from private property but lacked registration or were heavily damaged. In that video which took place on March 21, it is almost unintelligible certain obscenities that someone was yelling and were attributed to Police Officer Carl Farrington. The cars were then removed by Coady’s Towing.
Police officers are commonly chastised or even suspended for being disrespectful to civilians so I wanted to see how the Lawrence Police Department would deal with this complaint. I requested a report under the Freedom of Information Act and set out to research the legality of Officer Farrington’s actions.
Upon checking with the City Attorney Charles Boddy and Inspectional Services, I found out about the rules for keeping unregistered cars (even in private property) and I needed to see how they applied to the case presented on that video.
On April 3rd I received from Interim Police Chief James Fitzpatrick the results of his investigation, confirming my findings. Officer Farrington towed that evening a total of eight cars around the same neighborhood and he wrote on the three separate incident reports that, “While patrolling the city for unregister (sic), abandoned vehicles, I found this unfenced lot at…” followed by the description of the cars found at each one.
Chief Fitzpatrick goes on to explain that the video taken by one of the proprietors was viewed by him and other Superior Officers and determined that the Officer did not say the objectionable phrase recorded. “We determined that the phrase was said by one of the tow truck operators,” he wrote in his report.
The Chief explained the reasons for the removal of all eight vehicles were the same: “No person shall store in the open, nor shall the owner or person in control of any premises within the city permit to be stored in the open, any dismantled, partially dismantled, inoperative, wrecked or junked truck or motor vehicle of any kind, or any worn-out, cast-off or discarded material ready for destruction or collected for storage or conversion to some use.”
Any inspectional personnel as well as fire or police personnel are deemed enforcement persons. The penalty for any violation shall be $100.00 per day for each violation.
Chief Fitzpatrick concluded by saying, “Upon reviewing the above mentioned ordinance I believe the Officer applied a city ordinance when he should have used a Mass. General Law. The Officer’s intent was to clear vacant city lots of abandoned or improperly stored vehicles. The Officer should have contacted inspectional services about the situation. For these reasons I am asking the Officer to void all citations and cease any court proceedings against the individuals affected.”
I was concerned about the way the individuals were being treated because we hear enough complaints about our police department but it becomes very difficult to defend a situation rooted in wrongdoing. If there are laws against something, it is up to us to make sure that we are abiding by them to avoid future problems.
We know there are requirements about doing home renovations, particularly involving plumbing and electrical work which should be done by certified professionals after soliciting a building permit from city hall yet, people build additional apartments in basements and attics without notifying anyone. Perhaps the excuse is to avoid a tax increase but the consequences of something going wrong with a do-it-yourself project could be insurmountable.
