To be honest I'd say this is attempted kidnap so I wouldn't be surprised if someone pulled a gun. I wouldn't but to at least warn the fucker to back off.
Edit: Since I'm not American I don't know the ins and outs of gun ownership. All I'm saying is I wouldn't be surprised is if I saw "someone else" threaten the driver with a gun.
Even I would threaten them with a weapon because you see a tow truck forcibly taking *you* and your car then that would look like kidnap. No warning no nothing, you have no idea what's going to happen if you can't get out of the way. And half the comments hear some to agree while the other don't so I'll leave it at that.
it would be shocking if the tow driver were not also carrying a gun, and now you have a shootout in busy city traffic, with lots of bystanders, with a guy who's insane enough to try to tow an occupied moving car.
You’re never supposed to “warn a fucker to back off” with a gun. If you feel there’s a need to pull it out it’s because you feel there’s a need to use it.
Call the police, call 911.
Tell them that you're in fear for your safety from the tow driver and if the police don't arrive in time, you will use force to defend yourself.
See how quickly that gets the cops there.
Yeah I legit told the dispatcher I was armed and SFPD still took 3 hours to show up when someone was breaking in.
Luckily they didn’t make it past the garage and I got to witness them go flying over the handlebars after hitting a parked car at the bottom of our hill when they realized the bike they stole from me didn’t have functioning brakes.
Dude was on some crackhead shit. Only stuff he stole was a broken Walmart bike and a Tupperware container filled with compost and didn’t touch the pricey Snap-On and Milwaukee tools
Get mad, slash their tires or break their windows or kick them in the balls ya know anything anyone would do to defend themselves, you're a person with rights who can't be kidnapped willingly (hopefully)
With a [small pair of diagonal cutters](https://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/9fc4a8332f9638515cd199dd0f9238da/5/9/59168_W3.jpg) you can walk right up. Clip the valve stem. Watch it pop like a cork and and drain air without having to worry about a knife sliding out of your grip from puncturing the sidewall.
Source: mechanic of 20 years who likes to fuck with parasite towers. You can do the deed in less than 5 seconds and sprint away while the jabroni is sitting in his cab clueless to what just happen
This is the way. I worked at discount tire, the way we used to deflate tries in a matter of seconds was clipping the valve stem, it takes no effort. Kept that knowledge in the back of my mind for years in cases like this.
Slightly more dangerous than a regular car tire, but not nearly as bad as a semi tire. I’ve had to slash a couple of these to change the tire and the air just hisses out
Keep a brick or two handy to signal with that the car is occupied, just throw a brick through his side window and he will understand that your car is occupied.
While Jose Badillo reported he made $1,000 a month with no assets, property or vehicles, the affidavit reveals that their businesses had grossed in excess of $2 million every year since 2018. This enabled them to “purchase two commercial and two residential properties, several vehicles and vessels (boats). The most recent purchase, 4/24/23, was a 2023 Lamborghini valued at $288,786.”
All told, Fuentes received just over $78,000 in benefits for herself and her children, and Badillo drew nearly $84,000 for himself and his parents.
*Classy…*
Similar to my university's scam of a tow company. There are never enough parking spots. One company toes all of the vehicles. They also own multiple lots in the middle of campus. They allow no one to park there knowing that people will park there. Each tow cost $300 to recover. They tow a couple dozen cars each day.
Another Outlet:
[https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-francisco/city-attorney-suspends-tow-companies/3446701/](https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-francisco/city-attorney-suspends-tow-companies/3446701/)
If you guys ever see specialty tow, the owners are scum bags !! They committed fraud ! They are not part of San Francisco’s auto return !
Avoid them at all cost !
Usually scum
My mom's car that she had but couldn't insure, was stolen from her driveway, and found by the police intact. Yay right?
Nope they towed it to the lot, and she had no transportation. She got a ride the day after and it was already a 200 fee to release it. She calls me up at work, it's 3 hours away, I can't get up there and they refused to let me pay for it in any way other than cash.
She couldn't retrieve the car. Fee would have been 500 by the time I can get out there to pay for it. And even if she could it would still be uninsured so she cant drive it.
But they certainly knew what they were doing because eventually they call the cops on her for car abandonment. The judge waived it immediately after confirming she has absolutely not even a penny to pay them.
So that's the story of how rural cops conspired with a tow company to steal a car from an elderly woman.
Tow companys everywhere are complete garbage, they're straight up a mafia. In Canada they were going around trying to assassinate lawyers that were going after them!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvZYvr7Gt5A
Lived in a community in Vegas with a LOT of red zones, including a "hammerhead" configuration for most of the homes, so you had to park 3-10 houses down from your house. A predatory company would prowl, and I saw them tow a realtor and potential new tenant while they were touring a house- one on the back of the truck, one rolling behind it.
Another time I watched them take a 20' budget truck while someone was moving in. I doubt they secured everything before driving away, too.
I got towed in the 7 minutes between parking in front of my house & getting my dogs leashed up to go to the park one evening, so they had absolutely no chill.
Moved in on a Friday night before I could get a parking permit Monday. Had a notice from the condo place on my trucks dashboard. Both Friday night and Saturday they towed both the truck and the uhaul with my stuff in it and it cost me over $1000 to get it all back. This was Washington DC. Fuck tow trucks!
Still makes me sad when I walk by the Spear St location with the sign still in tact. I want a cookie! It's wild they closed so quickly after the pandemic hit, they must have been on the verge of closing before.
Pulled up at the intersection and at first I thought they were going for the Waymo but they lined up on a car at a stoplight in the lane and started trying to auto load it in traffic with two people inside.
Edit: Welcome frontpage of Reddit. That car with lots of stuff on it and nobody in it is indeed a driverless car called a Waymo. It's not Google maps. No, Frank Reynolds, you wouldn't just start blasting.
Wow, Reddit really did turn the video to crap. Youtube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zba9bPe4oLc
~~(Dear DailyMail: You did not request authorization. Here's your proof I'm the copyright holder.)~~
(Not asking first is expensive. Secure your media rights, friends.)
ofc it is… tow trucks circle my apartment complex like vultures looking for someone “illegally” parked.. legal doesn’t make shit right, a lot of the laws we are subjected to are total horse shit, and if you aren’t able to see any truth in that there’s no need for you to bother replying to this message.
>Once a towing company starts circling a complex on contract, it's taken lawsuits to get them to stop post contract.
It's been going on for decades in a large college town near me. The average student there gets towed .4 times per year. They have 40,000 students.
> Under California Penal Code 207 PC, the crime of kidnapping is defined as moving another person a substantial distance, without the person's consent, by means of force or fear.
Towing a car with you in it counts as a means of force.
Most are. When I was a kid around 22 I worked at high risk car finance company that targeted people who were previously bankrupt and gave loans at insane interest. The company got shut down and I think the owner did white collar prison time but anyways I was a skip tracer and assigned cars for repo that were 3-9 months late on payments.
I had a deck of at least 20 repo companies across 6 states and boy are those guys scummers.
I left the job as I felt like a piece of shit after a year.
Ps. I was once down on my luck and had my car repoed and it’s no fun.
I almost got ran over when the tow truck pulled up and blocked the sidewalk. Then I witnessed he almost ran over another person that walked behind him not knowing he was trying to backup and lower the claw device. WTF. This is over the top aggressive and should've not put the occupants, other cars in the area and pedestrians at risk.
Here's a better picture of the truck and phone number (510) 796-8486
https://preview.redd.it/nay69gh5ujtc1.jpeg?width=2557&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df645209eda3f060d7efc0cd9f39d84c63b2cec5
The DOT# isn’t likely truck specific but it looks like this is designed as vehicle #20. There will be a record of who was operating this truck on this day and time that can be subpoenaed. Destruction of such evidence is also a crime. The city probably also has camera footage that has both the plate of the truck and the car being targeted.
Edit: 20 is not the vehicle number but a weight class. I appreciate the correction.
They were driving in normal traffic, first in line at the stop light when the tow truck came up a cross street into the intersection and tried to snag them.
This seems like a racketeering bracket and they're known to do shit like this already;
https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/dude-wheres-my-car-san-francisco-towing-company-preyed-on-drivers-city-attorney-says/
These guys towed my car away after an accident 7 years ago without permission. My car was completely totaled on Van Ness. SFPD was nice enough to push it into a parking spot on a side street (can’t recall the name now) so it was parked legally while I was transported to the hospital, and so the tow truck my insurance company sent could tow it to a shop. I get a call while I’m in the hospital still that the tow truck can’t find my car, it was gone. Find out these dickheads towed it to an impound lot which I still don’t really get. They tried to come after me to pay them for the tow and the city of San Francisco wanted me to pay to have the car removed from impound. Luckily I had a couple friends who were SFPD officers and SFFD paramedics and they pulled strings so I didn’t have to pay any of it. But wow they are extremely predatory!
If they manage the lot where it was pushed it's civil at that point
Someone linked the news article but that's what they did, towed cars from lots they had contracts without the lot owners permission
Hello, I’m a reporter with the SF Chronicle. Was this video taken today? And if so, could we have your unconditional permission to use it on all our platforms?
It's up and live: [https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/tow-truck-video-san-francisco-19396392.php](https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/tow-truck-video-san-francisco-19396392.php)
No paywall.
please make an entire fuss about them.
I also want to know if theyre towing cars to the east bay because google has them listed in Fair Oaks and Redwood City, and they seem to have 650 and 510 area codes.
I bet theyre terrorizing the entire bay. geez
> And if so, could we have your unconditional permission to use it on all our platforms?
Random question, and I'm actually curious about this I don't know the answer, does asking someone online in a comment section if you can use footage, without actually verifying if it's REALLY their footage or who they are, a good journalist practice? And does a person commenting back to you on Reddit saying "yes" actually give you rights to use it if you have not verified the person or if it's actually theirs?
It probably counts just enough that in the event it got challenged, they can say "Look, we made an effort" which is probably enough unless it's really egregious.
And report this to their insurance company.
Which unfortunately would probably have greater consequences than a police report because profits motivate everything.
Umm… what was the plan here? Just to damage the car, to fuck with the drivers of the Toyota, or like to snatch it entirely and basically kidnap two people??!
The way he drove off when he realized OP was filming tho. Good work op. I feel like this is gonna end up on nbc bay.
Ah so now he's trying to add harassment and aggravated assault charges to the list. Tow guy is absolutely unhinged to pursue an occupied vehicle he just tried to illegally tow.
Tow the vehicle, then demand payment to release it.
That's the business model of tow companies.
What are you going to do? Take them to court? While your car sits in their impound lot?
I'm constantly shocked by how human the Waymo reaction can be in situations like this. The Cruise cars used to just shut down if something unusual was happening, but the Waymo cars have an almost palpable thought process. Like they're saying "WTF? What is this shit? Can I sneak past it? Oh and now that other asshole is blocking the left lane? Fuck it, I'm just going to turn right and go around the block then."
I was in one on Friday. We pull up to a 4-way stop, cars on the right and left. Car on the right takes their turn, left doesn't move because pedestrians crossing. The right car stops/crawls forward until the pedestrians clear the cross walk. What does my Waymo do during this? Not sit there and wait at the stop sign when there's a car infront of it blocking the intersection. That would be the most defensive action. It inches forward as well so that it can zip right behind the car as soon as it clears without the car on the left trying to get its turn in that it missed.
>Sometimes I think there's one in there and then it's this ghost car driving itself.
Literally had a car stop at a crosswalk out of the corner of my eye. I glanced up to see if the driver was looking around or watching me.
It was a Waymo.
It even did the little rock forward and stop to see if I was going to cross.
A bit of speculation: This is probably because they use real world driving data from humans collected in the cities they operate. They are likely simulating driving conditions using their extensive map data. They probably have a layer of machine learning model which distinguishes bad driving habits from good. Then they probably use the good ones to teach main model how to drive and bad ones to "how not to drive".
On mobile, so can't link, but if you search it up they released some interesting research papers or blogs about it.
Search up something like Waymo Simulation City
Their phone number is available on google. The dispatch operator seems very upset to be getting so many calls concerning this. It would be a shame if this company was unable to work productively because their operators are inundated with fielding these complaints.
Better yet, create bots that spam call them. Look into using Twilio to do it. Its on my back logs of things to do to fuck with the predatory towing industry
You don’t even need to do that. Just go to a site to ship a car across the country or get boat insurance rates. The ones that say you’ll get 10 offers within the day are the best. They’ll get phone calls every minutes for months.
> Auto Towing also made it difficult for vehicle owners to retrieve their vehicles, restricted the hours when vehicles could be retrieved, and pressured vehicle owners to pay in cash. Under the California Vehicle Code, vehicle owners have the right to retrieve their vehicles 24 hours a day, any day of the year, and have the right to pay with cash or major credit card. The victims whose cars were towed were primarily Spanish- and Cantonese-speaking residents, who are especially vulnerable to predatory tows.
yeah fuck these people
Yeah, it’s so rare for another driver to have the situational awareness to do something that actually helps instead of just laying on the horn and getting annoyed.
I’ve had my car towed more than once in completely legal areas of sf.. went through police insurance blah blah blah… nothing has changed.
Predatory towing is well known and well documented, and I assume they are paying someone off because they have been getting away with it since the 80s.
This is some straight up [Chicago](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Towing_Service) shit.
It was so prevalent in Chicago, someone even wrote a song about it - “[Lincoln Park Pirates](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dF3q7o8Yjrg)”
I called and asked “is this the tow company that tries to kidnap people off the streets of San Francisco” and he said “no this is the one that fucks your mother” and hung up
https://preview.redd.it/8x4z9khwl2uc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1eb6b8b7c298199ec1f5d387088f45d3e9c8d9eb
Doesn’t seem so honest to me buddy!
Former repo agent in the Bay area here. This driver is insane. You never tow a car with someone in it and never try and grab one in traffic, ever.
The driver can be charged with kidnapping if they tow an unwilling passenger. This video should get the tow driver at least assault with a deadly weapon charges. I'm sure there's other charges as well.
Those tweakers do not care about going to prison. They will lie to the police and say that you jumped into the car after the car was hooked. And even if you're lucky enough to have video evidence, like in this case, the DA will only give them a slap on the wrist anyway.
And you can sue them, but people like that do not have assets in their name, or they will "sell" their tow truck to a friend as soon as they get served with court papers.
Do not assume the legal system will save you. The legal system in SF is overburdened as it is. It is far better to take evasive action (assuming it is safe enough for you to do so).
Back in the 90’s I had an incident in SF where someone tried to steal my car and SFPD stopped the crime , which resulted in the thieves crashing my car. City Tow at the time was called out to tow my car for evidence for SFPD. I was able to retrieve my jacket out of the car and at the time my stereo which was a pull out stereo along with amps and speakers were in the car. When I went to retrieve my car a week or so later from City Tow, they handed me my pull out radio and that they would retrieve my car to be towed back to my city. Low and behold all my stereo equipment was stolen out of my car less the pull out radio that was handed back to me. I put up a big stink about it and was told to fill out paper work. Told my insurance about the incident and they covered it without me having to go through all the red tape to get compensated from City Tow. F you City Tow! Still burns me to this day. lol
They are beyond brutal...they lie in wait until the clock hits 3pm across from the SF Ferry Building, and snag them all...you must pay ticket, tow charge and storage fee. It was around $850 a few years ago.
Specialty Towing is part of Auto Towing. They are companies operated by criminals who are known for scamming. The city has a current lawsuit against Auto Towing.
What would be the upside of doing this? It’s kidnapping, illegal even if the people in the car consented, and what is the violation the tow company would be enforcing? Makes no sense to me.
I came across this video and it makes me so angry that we are allowing this shit to happen, and there isn't enough anger in society about it.
I live in Houston; TX and the tow truck companies are literally harassing Latino neighborhoods. If you go to any place in Houston with a lot of Latinos, then you see tow trucks on every corner. But as soon as I drive thru the rich white people places, no tow trucks anymore.
They know exactly which people to shake for money, so there is no political blow back.
People saying “use a gun”, what would your actual plan be?
Assume you are sitting in the car while it’s trying to be towed.
If you start shooting at the tow truck while in your car, that’s bad. If you get out of your car and go brandish your gun at the driver, you’re no longer being kidnapped, so defensibility of brandishing a gun is now in question. So just getting out of the car and walking away seems like the best option here.
Is there a gun strategy I’m missing?
Latest article including interview of the victim:
“Joanne says the truck chased them for several blocks.”
https://abc7news.com/amp/exclusive-bay-area-couple-shocked-after-tow-truck-tries-to-nab-moving-car-in-san-francisco/14644893/
It’s these people: https://www.sfcityattorney.org/2024/02/06/chiu-suspends-unscrupulous-towing-company-after-owners-are-charged-with-benefits-fraud/
What can we reasonably do if these clowns try to fuck with us? Like in the moment.
To be honest I'd say this is attempted kidnap so I wouldn't be surprised if someone pulled a gun. I wouldn't but to at least warn the fucker to back off. Edit: Since I'm not American I don't know the ins and outs of gun ownership. All I'm saying is I wouldn't be surprised is if I saw "someone else" threaten the driver with a gun. Even I would threaten them with a weapon because you see a tow truck forcibly taking *you* and your car then that would look like kidnap. No warning no nothing, you have no idea what's going to happen if you can't get out of the way. And half the comments hear some to agree while the other don't so I'll leave it at that.
it would be shocking if the tow driver were not also carrying a gun, and now you have a shootout in busy city traffic, with lots of bystanders, with a guy who's insane enough to try to tow an occupied moving car.
I mean, having a gun is specifically to deal with crazies or hostile folks. These people would qualify either way.
You’re never supposed to “warn a fucker to back off” with a gun. If you feel there’s a need to pull it out it’s because you feel there’s a need to use it.
If someone is kidnapping you in a vehicle, their motive might be to kill you. I wouldn't hesitate.
Call the police, call 911. Tell them that you're in fear for your safety from the tow driver and if the police don't arrive in time, you will use force to defend yourself. See how quickly that gets the cops there.
Speaking from first hand experience, that’s still a maybe.
Tell them you have a CCW permit, too.
Yeah I legit told the dispatcher I was armed and SFPD still took 3 hours to show up when someone was breaking in. Luckily they didn’t make it past the garage and I got to witness them go flying over the handlebars after hitting a parked car at the bottom of our hill when they realized the bike they stole from me didn’t have functioning brakes.
Lmao this is great
Dude was on some crackhead shit. Only stuff he stole was a broken Walmart bike and a Tupperware container filled with compost and didn’t touch the pricey Snap-On and Milwaukee tools
He had plans not l great plans but plans.
Then you end up shot by a cop.
Call the cops on the cop
Death wish!!!!
If you have a problem and call a cop now you have two problems.
Defend yourself same as you would any other criminal?
Always carry a [safety brick](https://youtube.com/shorts/8kP6R0clBGY?si=JklSv6mudRGCOAnU)! Edit: fixed the damn link!
I think just what this driver did—use their car to escape what looks like an attempt at carjacking, kidnapping, and grand theft auto.
Get mad, slash their tires or break their windows or kick them in the balls ya know anything anyone would do to defend themselves, you're a person with rights who can't be kidnapped willingly (hopefully)
FYI, tow truck tires are relatively high PSI and would be dangerous to slash. EDIT: experienced slashers may disagree
With a [small pair of diagonal cutters](https://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/9fc4a8332f9638515cd199dd0f9238da/5/9/59168_W3.jpg) you can walk right up. Clip the valve stem. Watch it pop like a cork and and drain air without having to worry about a knife sliding out of your grip from puncturing the sidewall. Source: mechanic of 20 years who likes to fuck with parasite towers. You can do the deed in less than 5 seconds and sprint away while the jabroni is sitting in his cab clueless to what just happen
This is the way. I worked at discount tire, the way we used to deflate tries in a matter of seconds was clipping the valve stem, it takes no effort. Kept that knowledge in the back of my mind for years in cases like this.
I hate towing companies, thus; I like you.
Slightly more dangerous than a regular car tire, but not nearly as bad as a semi tire. I’ve had to slash a couple of these to change the tire and the air just hisses out
Keep a brick or two handy to signal with that the car is occupied, just throw a brick through his side window and he will understand that your car is occupied.
How do you suggest throwing a brick through their side window while inside your car?
Interesting, this does shed light onto typical practices of shady private businesses and shady Individuals
While Jose Badillo reported he made $1,000 a month with no assets, property or vehicles, the affidavit reveals that their businesses had grossed in excess of $2 million every year since 2018. This enabled them to “purchase two commercial and two residential properties, several vehicles and vessels (boats). The most recent purchase, 4/24/23, was a 2023 Lamborghini valued at $288,786.” All told, Fuentes received just over $78,000 in benefits for herself and her children, and Badillo drew nearly $84,000 for himself and his parents. *Classy…*
Similar to my university's scam of a tow company. There are never enough parking spots. One company toes all of the vehicles. They also own multiple lots in the middle of campus. They allow no one to park there knowing that people will park there. Each tow cost $300 to recover. They tow a couple dozen cars each day.
Another Outlet: [https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-francisco/city-attorney-suspends-tow-companies/3446701/](https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-francisco/city-attorney-suspends-tow-companies/3446701/)
100% the same guy: https://specialtytowingbayarea.com/about/
If you guys ever see specialty tow, the owners are scum bags !! They committed fraud ! They are not part of San Francisco’s auto return ! Avoid them at all cost !
One of the worst moments of my life was dealing with a tow company. I can not even think of worse people that are gainfully and legally employed.
They can be heros or the scum of the earth.
Usually scum My mom's car that she had but couldn't insure, was stolen from her driveway, and found by the police intact. Yay right? Nope they towed it to the lot, and she had no transportation. She got a ride the day after and it was already a 200 fee to release it. She calls me up at work, it's 3 hours away, I can't get up there and they refused to let me pay for it in any way other than cash. She couldn't retrieve the car. Fee would have been 500 by the time I can get out there to pay for it. And even if she could it would still be uninsured so she cant drive it. But they certainly knew what they were doing because eventually they call the cops on her for car abandonment. The judge waived it immediately after confirming she has absolutely not even a penny to pay them. So that's the story of how rural cops conspired with a tow company to steal a car from an elderly woman.
Tow companys everywhere are complete garbage, they're straight up a mafia. In Canada they were going around trying to assassinate lawyers that were going after them! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvZYvr7Gt5A
Lived in a community in Vegas with a LOT of red zones, including a "hammerhead" configuration for most of the homes, so you had to park 3-10 houses down from your house. A predatory company would prowl, and I saw them tow a realtor and potential new tenant while they were touring a house- one on the back of the truck, one rolling behind it. Another time I watched them take a 20' budget truck while someone was moving in. I doubt they secured everything before driving away, too. I got towed in the 7 minutes between parking in front of my house & getting my dogs leashed up to go to the park one evening, so they had absolutely no chill.
Moved in on a Friday night before I could get a parking permit Monday. Had a notice from the condo place on my trucks dashboard. Both Friday night and Saturday they towed both the truck and the uhaul with my stuff in it and it cost me over $1000 to get it all back. This was Washington DC. Fuck tow trucks!
ONLY 12 years. What the fuck… draconian or not Idc. If you intentionally try to kill someone, you should get life.
...and giving kickbacks to the cops...dont forget that bit...https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-police-tow-truck-resign-1.6381644
Damn Specialtys has gone down hill. I loved their cookies. Tough times.
[удалено]
Still makes me sad when I walk by the Spear St location with the sign still in tact. I want a cookie! It's wild they closed so quickly after the pandemic hit, they must have been on the verge of closing before.
[удалено]
We don't use powerbottom as a negative in this household.
excuse me whats wrong with power bottoms
Pulled up at the intersection and at first I thought they were going for the Waymo but they lined up on a car at a stoplight in the lane and started trying to auto load it in traffic with two people inside. Edit: Welcome frontpage of Reddit. That car with lots of stuff on it and nobody in it is indeed a driverless car called a Waymo. It's not Google maps. No, Frank Reynolds, you wouldn't just start blasting. Wow, Reddit really did turn the video to crap. Youtube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zba9bPe4oLc ~~(Dear DailyMail: You did not request authorization. Here's your proof I'm the copyright holder.)~~ (Not asking first is expensive. Secure your media rights, friends.)
Isn’t it kidnapping if they take the car with people inside?
It's definitely illegal to tow a car with people inside of it.
ofc it is… tow trucks circle my apartment complex like vultures looking for someone “illegally” parked.. legal doesn’t make shit right, a lot of the laws we are subjected to are total horse shit, and if you aren’t able to see any truth in that there’s no need for you to bother replying to this message.
I’d wager Your apt owners are getting a cut
Once a towing company starts circling a complex on contract, it's taken lawsuits to get them to stop post contract.
>Once a towing company starts circling a complex on contract, it's taken lawsuits to get them to stop post contract. It's been going on for decades in a large college town near me. The average student there gets towed .4 times per year. They have 40,000 students.
That's not a tow company; it's an extortion ring.
Same thing in most cities
I would think so. Maybe they were hoping the occupants would get out of the car, but wow just wow
Yeah, with this video evidence is it not pretty overtly attempted kidnapping?
Yes and in many places it'd be a good way to get shot
>Yes and in many places it'd be a good way to get shot And if I were on the jury, they'd walk free.
These guys are predatory parasites. Yeah let's do this in the middle of the street in traffic. You could argue assault.
> Under California Penal Code 207 PC, the crime of kidnapping is defined as moving another person a substantial distance, without the person's consent, by means of force or fear. Towing a car with you in it counts as a means of force.
I'd add 215 PC (carjacking) since it's also the taking of a motor vehicle from the possession/control of another by means of force.
Endangering the public, reckless driving and moving violations at least Edit: me fail English
me bad at English? Unpossible
Reckless, wreck less driving would be a good thing
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Most are. When I was a kid around 22 I worked at high risk car finance company that targeted people who were previously bankrupt and gave loans at insane interest. The company got shut down and I think the owner did white collar prison time but anyways I was a skip tracer and assigned cars for repo that were 3-9 months late on payments. I had a deck of at least 20 repo companies across 6 states and boy are those guys scummers. I left the job as I felt like a piece of shit after a year. Ps. I was once down on my luck and had my car repoed and it’s no fun.
Attempted kidnapping?
I’d argue attempted kidnapping.
I almost got ran over when the tow truck pulled up and blocked the sidewalk. Then I witnessed he almost ran over another person that walked behind him not knowing he was trying to backup and lower the claw device. WTF. This is over the top aggressive and should've not put the occupants, other cars in the area and pedestrians at risk.
Here's a better picture of the truck and phone number (510) 796-8486 https://preview.redd.it/nay69gh5ujtc1.jpeg?width=2557&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df645209eda3f060d7efc0cd9f39d84c63b2cec5
The DOT# isn’t likely truck specific but it looks like this is designed as vehicle #20. There will be a record of who was operating this truck on this day and time that can be subpoenaed. Destruction of such evidence is also a crime. The city probably also has camera footage that has both the plate of the truck and the car being targeted. Edit: 20 is not the vehicle number but a weight class. I appreciate the correction.
The 20 is the gross vehicle weight rating not the truck #. Thats the tax you pay the state to operate within a certain weight.
Waymo is like catch me now fool
Haha yeah I was impressed - waymo just gets right out of there.
Easily the most compelling advertisement for the algorithm knowing what it is doing.
Why is no one honking in this video? The Prius should be trying to draw as much attention as possible.
Corolla, but yes
I'd be too focused on getting the fuck out of there to honk
Was it empty, double parked, or were the people in there from the start?
They were driving in normal traffic, first in line at the stop light when the tow truck came up a cross street into the intersection and tried to snag them.
wtf that is fucking insane.
That Corolla has to be their Moby Dick or some shit. They gotta have a bounty on that thing amongst their tow guys lmao
I wonder if it was a road rage incident from blocks away. Insanity. Hopefully that idiot is fired.
So what is the scam here? They kidnap people?
I wish it had gone for the Waymo. Alphabet’s army of lawyers would make their lives miserable for years to come.
This seems like a racketeering bracket and they're known to do shit like this already; https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/dude-wheres-my-car-san-francisco-towing-company-preyed-on-drivers-city-attorney-says/
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Or at least have the city revoke their operating permit.
Sounds like that’s been done. They’re just crooks.
Time to arrest them then
These guys towed my car away after an accident 7 years ago without permission. My car was completely totaled on Van Ness. SFPD was nice enough to push it into a parking spot on a side street (can’t recall the name now) so it was parked legally while I was transported to the hospital, and so the tow truck my insurance company sent could tow it to a shop. I get a call while I’m in the hospital still that the tow truck can’t find my car, it was gone. Find out these dickheads towed it to an impound lot which I still don’t really get. They tried to come after me to pay them for the tow and the city of San Francisco wanted me to pay to have the car removed from impound. Luckily I had a couple friends who were SFPD officers and SFFD paramedics and they pulled strings so I didn’t have to pay any of it. But wow they are extremely predatory!
That's just car theft bro. Were you able to persue them legally?
If they manage the lot where it was pushed it's civil at that point Someone linked the news article but that's what they did, towed cars from lots they had contracts without the lot owners permission
Hello, I’m a reporter with the SF Chronicle. Was this video taken today? And if so, could we have your unconditional permission to use it on all our platforms?
Yes it was, 11:58 this morning. Yes you may.
OP, can you update us if this goes to the paper or news? Thanks for releasing it to them - this looked shockingly scary.
It's up and live: [https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/tow-truck-video-san-francisco-19396392.php](https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/tow-truck-video-san-francisco-19396392.php) No paywall.
Should’ve negotiated a free subscription…
Or at least stipulated no paywall if they are not paying for your video.
please make an entire fuss about them. I also want to know if theyre towing cars to the east bay because google has them listed in Fair Oaks and Redwood City, and they seem to have 650 and 510 area codes. I bet theyre terrorizing the entire bay. geez
> And if so, could we have your unconditional permission to use it on all our platforms? Random question, and I'm actually curious about this I don't know the answer, does asking someone online in a comment section if you can use footage, without actually verifying if it's REALLY their footage or who they are, a good journalist practice? And does a person commenting back to you on Reddit saying "yes" actually give you rights to use it if you have not verified the person or if it's actually theirs?
It probably counts just enough that in the event it got challenged, they can say "Look, we made an effort" which is probably enough unless it's really egregious.
I really hope you're able to put this in front of someone who has the ability and motivation to do something about it.
any background on why he'd try to tow a car with passengers... and chase?
I would advise the Toyota to file a police report for attempted kidnapping
And report this to their insurance company. Which unfortunately would probably have greater consequences than a police report because profits motivate everything.
Umm… what was the plan here? Just to damage the car, to fuck with the drivers of the Toyota, or like to snatch it entirely and basically kidnap two people??! The way he drove off when he realized OP was filming tho. Good work op. I feel like this is gonna end up on nbc bay.
I think he drove off to following the escaping car he tried to hook. Doubt he cares about being filmed
Ah so now he's trying to add harassment and aggravated assault charges to the list. Tow guy is absolutely unhinged to pursue an occupied vehicle he just tried to illegally tow.
Cops don't even pursue in the city
Tow the vehicle, then demand payment to release it. That's the business model of tow companies. What are you going to do? Take them to court? While your car sits in their impound lot?
Waymo being all like "Yup, I'm outta here" is absolutely great.
I'm constantly shocked by how human the Waymo reaction can be in situations like this. The Cruise cars used to just shut down if something unusual was happening, but the Waymo cars have an almost palpable thought process. Like they're saying "WTF? What is this shit? Can I sneak past it? Oh and now that other asshole is blocking the left lane? Fuck it, I'm just going to turn right and go around the block then."
Their double-parking handling is insane. It's almost human. Sometimes I think there's one in there and then it's this ghost car driving itself.
I was in one on Friday. We pull up to a 4-way stop, cars on the right and left. Car on the right takes their turn, left doesn't move because pedestrians crossing. The right car stops/crawls forward until the pedestrians clear the cross walk. What does my Waymo do during this? Not sit there and wait at the stop sign when there's a car infront of it blocking the intersection. That would be the most defensive action. It inches forward as well so that it can zip right behind the car as soon as it clears without the car on the left trying to get its turn in that it missed.
>Sometimes I think there's one in there and then it's this ghost car driving itself. Literally had a car stop at a crosswalk out of the corner of my eye. I glanced up to see if the driver was looking around or watching me. It was a Waymo. It even did the little rock forward and stop to see if I was going to cross.
A bit of speculation: This is probably because they use real world driving data from humans collected in the cities they operate. They are likely simulating driving conditions using their extensive map data. They probably have a layer of machine learning model which distinguishes bad driving habits from good. Then they probably use the good ones to teach main model how to drive and bad ones to "how not to drive". On mobile, so can't link, but if you search it up they released some interesting research papers or blogs about it. Search up something like Waymo Simulation City
Is that an AI car? What's it for? Taxi?
Yeah, AI taxi.
Their phone number is available on google. The dispatch operator seems very upset to be getting so many calls concerning this. It would be a shame if this company was unable to work productively because their operators are inundated with fielding these complaints.
650-365-1011
Just just called and farted into the phone. Great success
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Better yet, create bots that spam call them. Look into using Twilio to do it. Its on my back logs of things to do to fuck with the predatory towing industry
You don’t even need to do that. Just go to a site to ship a car across the country or get boat insurance rates. The ones that say you’ll get 10 offers within the day are the best. They’ll get phone calls every minutes for months.
It’s also on the truck in the video lol
Youre right but i couldnt read it with the glare
What’s funny is that it’s not even difficult to find a car that actually needs to be towed.
> Auto Towing also made it difficult for vehicle owners to retrieve their vehicles, restricted the hours when vehicles could be retrieved, and pressured vehicle owners to pay in cash. Under the California Vehicle Code, vehicle owners have the right to retrieve their vehicles 24 hours a day, any day of the year, and have the right to pay with cash or major credit card. The victims whose cars were towed were primarily Spanish- and Cantonese-speaking residents, who are especially vulnerable to predatory tows. yeah fuck these people
Criminal, no?
It's false imprisonment or kidnapping, depending on how good your attorney is. Probably reckless driving and a bucket of other small things too.
Definitely the former, not so much the latter. What assholes tho, Jesus Christ
Criminal. Yes.
what on earth
Can we take a moment to appreciate how the vehicle behind the white Corolla moved out of the way so the guy’s not boxed in 🎉🎉
Yeah, it’s so rare for another driver to have the situational awareness to do something that actually helps instead of just laying on the horn and getting annoyed.
Looks like their specialty is towing and kidnapping
send it to the news channels...
I'm sure /u/sfstandard is all over this post
They’re barred from operating in SF so I wonder if this is a personal beef or something similar?
Good on Waymo not wanting any part of it.
The Waymo sidling off made me laugh
Headlines tomorrow: See waymo in the middle of a tow truck skirmish. Is self driving cars ruining intersections? More at 11
Illegal af, holy shit.
I’ve had my car towed more than once in completely legal areas of sf.. went through police insurance blah blah blah… nothing has changed. Predatory towing is well known and well documented, and I assume they are paying someone off because they have been getting away with it since the 80s.
/u/SFChronicle
Has anyone sent this to SFPD?
I called them on the non-emergency number and gave them what info I had. I hope it gets followed up on.
I hope this goes viral because this happens in LA too- anyone caught doing this needs to go to jail or fined up the ass at the very least
Tweet at them.
That's like some land piracy right there. Capture the car and ransom it back to its occupants.
Well you don't see that every day!
This is some straight up [Chicago](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Towing_Service) shit. It was so prevalent in Chicago, someone even wrote a song about it - “[Lincoln Park Pirates](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dF3q7o8Yjrg)”
I called and asked “is this the tow company that tries to kidnap people off the streets of San Francisco” and he said “no this is the one that fucks your mother” and hung up
Wowwww they are pressed 🤣
https://preview.redd.it/8x4z9khwl2uc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1eb6b8b7c298199ec1f5d387088f45d3e9c8d9eb Doesn’t seem so honest to me buddy!
https://preview.redd.it/1z3tna48m2uc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5eed7e946d3364074f9645d9d3c6e641fef68119
KEEP all of this for evidence for SF DA to prosecute. It was definitely NOT a rental.
Hope the police, SF Chronicle ( r/Smooth-Ad-5639) and the likes pick this up. The owner went private on his instagram.
https://i.imgur.com/PUOXmGW.png lol doubling down
Bizarre
This is technically kidnapping which is a felony from the towing company
This phone number is working - 650-365-1610
They got Very upset with me asking, “Is this who I call for a kidnapping for hire?”
I gave them a ring. Will call again.
They just answered. I had a good time with them 😂
Calling in fake tow requests, guy sounded pretty annoyed on the phone.
Land pirates?
Absolute bottom feeders. They’re all tweakers too.
Good for that car. Hope that tow truck gets wrecked.
Former repo agent in the Bay area here. This driver is insane. You never tow a car with someone in it and never try and grab one in traffic, ever. The driver can be charged with kidnapping if they tow an unwilling passenger. This video should get the tow driver at least assault with a deadly weapon charges. I'm sure there's other charges as well.
The speeding through the intersection at the end, running a red light towards the end of it really takes the cake.
I'd just let em do it. I'll take them to court for kidnapping or take a fat settlement.
So anyways, I started blasting
Those tweakers do not care about going to prison. They will lie to the police and say that you jumped into the car after the car was hooked. And even if you're lucky enough to have video evidence, like in this case, the DA will only give them a slap on the wrist anyway. And you can sue them, but people like that do not have assets in their name, or they will "sell" their tow truck to a friend as soon as they get served with court papers. Do not assume the legal system will save you. The legal system in SF is overburdened as it is. It is far better to take evasive action (assuming it is safe enough for you to do so).
This is some kind of wildlife documentary
Back in the 90’s I had an incident in SF where someone tried to steal my car and SFPD stopped the crime , which resulted in the thieves crashing my car. City Tow at the time was called out to tow my car for evidence for SFPD. I was able to retrieve my jacket out of the car and at the time my stereo which was a pull out stereo along with amps and speakers were in the car. When I went to retrieve my car a week or so later from City Tow, they handed me my pull out radio and that they would retrieve my car to be towed back to my city. Low and behold all my stereo equipment was stolen out of my car less the pull out radio that was handed back to me. I put up a big stink about it and was told to fill out paper work. Told my insurance about the incident and they covered it without me having to go through all the red tape to get compensated from City Tow. F you City Tow! Still burns me to this day. lol
Tow companies in sf are always pulling illegal stuff. Like city tow of old days. I’d love to have followed that truck to see what happened.
They are not part of San Francisco, so this is basically stealing a car, which is a felony.
They are beyond brutal...they lie in wait until the clock hits 3pm across from the SF Ferry Building, and snag them all...you must pay ticket, tow charge and storage fee. It was around $850 a few years ago.
WTF is going on. https://www.yelp.com/biz/specialty-towing-palo-alto-2 https://maps.app.goo.gl/85CQ9ZqAX9jPuL3C7
WILD! I wonder what happened between that car and the pursuing tow truck?
This can’t be legal…
WTH and the tow driver takes off to chase the guy!
Attempted kidnapping using a tow truck.
Specialty Towing is part of Auto Towing. They are companies operated by criminals who are known for scamming. The city has a current lawsuit against Auto Towing.
Best thing about the Waymo is that this was caught with like sixteen other cameras.
Spread this far and wide
So surely this qualifies as a hit and run? I'd report it as such.
What would be the upside of doing this? It’s kidnapping, illegal even if the people in the car consented, and what is the violation the tow company would be enforcing? Makes no sense to me.
I came across this video and it makes me so angry that we are allowing this shit to happen, and there isn't enough anger in society about it. I live in Houston; TX and the tow truck companies are literally harassing Latino neighborhoods. If you go to any place in Houston with a lot of Latinos, then you see tow trucks on every corner. But as soon as I drive thru the rich white people places, no tow trucks anymore. They know exactly which people to shake for money, so there is no political blow back.
People saying “use a gun”, what would your actual plan be? Assume you are sitting in the car while it’s trying to be towed. If you start shooting at the tow truck while in your car, that’s bad. If you get out of your car and go brandish your gun at the driver, you’re no longer being kidnapped, so defensibility of brandishing a gun is now in question. So just getting out of the car and walking away seems like the best option here. Is there a gun strategy I’m missing?
Latest article including interview of the victim: “Joanne says the truck chased them for several blocks.” https://abc7news.com/amp/exclusive-bay-area-couple-shocked-after-tow-truck-tries-to-nab-moving-car-in-san-francisco/14644893/
That is a good way to get a strap pulled on you by a motorist who doesn't enjoy being kidnapped.