=|=|Impoundment|=|=

[Caithness]

Well today our local car club had a cruise out to a resort town and back for some fun.

On the drive back in to our hometown a few high speed passes were made, NOT including my GT-R.

Regardless, the outcome of that was an angry old lady that saw us all pulled over at a gas bar and decided to take down all our plates and call us in.

I thought nothing of it as I didn't pass her.

The result of that phone call though was as follows:



Three of our cars were pulled over and impounded instantly.

The police officers had no first hand proof, just the statements of the old lady and another "supposed" individual who apparently called us in, which I find to be completely bogus.

Us three, myself in the GT-R, a friend in a 180SX and another in an STi have now been charged with street racing.

I'm not worried about the charges as there is honestly no proof of any street racing whatsoever. If anything a few members might have been speeding at most.

What I'm wondering about is this impound/towing fee.

The total is about 4-5 hundred dollars due to the distance from where we were pulled over.

Has anyone ever fought for reimbursement for such a fee? Also, how can they legally impound our cars on the hear-say of a few angry old ladies???

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as the whole situation is pretty upsetting.

[DeviantRebel442]

sue....

technically speaking unless there is hard evidence nothing can be done...

also just hearing about a statement is not enough to justify impoundment either...

here in BC the cops would be owned...i dont know about where you live...but argue it its a win for sure...also make sure you took down the cops name a such and also file a complaint about them...

Talk to any lawyer they'll laugh....but literally speaking your rights ahve been violated...i just did this in law class...

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

thats brutal. I'm no lawyer, but this is clearly a case of hearsay, so what proof is there? I could call the police and say the guy across the street that I hate is street racing and he gets his car impounded as well? ridiculous.

Call Denny Crane.

[deliberate32]

Shitty D, was this in BC, or AB?

[shore_rider]

This reminds me of when an old man called in on me for passing him in rush hour traffic and a police officer callin me 5 hours later saying he was giving me a speeding ticket over the phone.


If I remember right I think I might have even hung up on him after trying to talk to him.

[Trace]

Early last year a few of us gathered up at Lansdowne parking lot. My Skyline, an Integra, a Yamaha motorcycle and an Impreza. We just did a park job in the parking lot, sat down and drank our slurpies and coffee when a police cruiser pulled in and said there were complaints of street racing and 2 of our cars (mine and the Integra) were identified.

Which was funny because A) I wasn't street racing or going over 50 and B) it was a short distance from 7-Eleven to Lansdowne.

I think it helped that I knew the officer as he did take a shine to my Skyline. He knows me and how I am very anal about street racing myself, I told him it was all hearsay (which it was! I would never EVER street race!) he nodded that my explanation was fair enough. They CANNOT impound on hearsay. If there's visual proof that they caught then yes, they can make that call but in this case, some cranky bitchy bystander's word is NOT good enough in a court of law. It's a factor but not a means to an end.

If I were you, I'd be on the phone with your lawyer and then file some serious complaints. I'd also not only fight the charge, but appeal a countersuit of your own with a harassment claim and appeal for towing charges. Unless there's CONCRETE proof that there was any wrongdoings, they CANNOT take your car and fine you like that.

It can be fought and won. I'd also take it to your provincial newspaper and maybe see if they could drum something up. Police impounding on a whim... that should go smooth.

[starboy869]

I wonder if the person who called you in will show up in court? I think I remember reading case law in Ontario you can ask for reimbursement, BUT IMO if your found not guilty I don't see why you should be paying a tow charge.

[Caithness]

This was all done in B.C. in the Kootenays, just outside Cranbrook.

Even if this old lady appears in court, she has no proof on me that I was actually "street racing" because I never passed her.

She simply took down my license plate becuz I joined the ones that did pass her, she took down everyones plates.

I asked the police officer on the scene what proof he had to justify impounding our cars and his response was "more than one person calling in to complain about these cars."

Is that enough proof?! I sure as hell hope not.

Not only that, how is speeding street racing?

[SoupGTR]

Thats super gay. They can't do that. Definitely fight that impoundment.

This reminds me of the time I almost got like $1500 in tickets for riding my cousins minibike up and down my block. Apparently the whole block called me in for not riding with safety gear. Street racing. Riding without proper markings or license.

All I told them on what grounds are you laying these charges. The most you guys could get me with driving without markers and a license, if that.

I was wearing safety gear when they, when I say they, I mean the entire RCMP force back home, 3 cars - 2 cops per car, Boxed me in on the corner of the street. The street racing was called in while they had us pulled over. It just so happened we were running out of gas so my cousin went to go get some and I was gonna waste what was left in the tank. So I drove down the block in the same direction. Clearly street racing. 50cc mini-bike vs 3100cc car. In the end they really had nothing, only the word of some grumpy old people who had "Murder She Wrote" interrupted, so they let me off with a warning. Couldn't even drive the bike back 3 houses to park it. Had to carry it.

So they can't impound you on just the word of two people. The could be working together to spite you. Because if the word of some people is enough. I should have been ticket raped. 10 calls in an hour and a half.

[Caithness]

Well, after speaking with a few officers at the local police shop here apparantly they CAN impound on simply the word of a few angry old ladies.

If they are unable to convict us of the chargers then reimbursement for the impoundings might be in order.

Bunch of complete nonsense. It's pretty disheartening.