I get that this story is a few days old, and while I’m not sure I have any special insight to bring to it, I think it’s worth showing and discussing, because what in the clam-frosted hell is this? Here’s what happened, as far as I can tell: A couple was driving in their 2017 Toyota Corolla, slowly creeping through San Francisco traffic, when a yellow tow truck wearing SPECIALTY TOWING livery began to do something unexpected: it apparently tried to tow they couple’s car, as they were driving it. That’s, um, that would be kidnapping, wouldn’t it? Whatever it is, it looks very wrong, and it’s very disturbing that it would be attempted at all.
The couple, who‚ per ABC 7 Los Angeles, doesn’t want to use their last name publicly, was driving around, doing normal errands on April 9. While stopped at a traffic light, the two were behind the Specialty Towing truck, which they thought may have been in the area to deal with a stopped Waymo robotaxi on the side of the road. But, the tow truck seemed to be more interested in human cars, a proclivity known as The Most Dangerous Game. The truck deployed its low-mounted wheel lift yokes and backed into the Corolla, attempting to snag the car to tow it. From the news outlet:
“He came from the side. I thought he was turning right. He started in reverse, and all the lights came on. That’s when we were like, ‘hey, something’s really wrong. His lever was coming down,'” she said.
In video taken by a witness, the tow truck can be seen making several attempts to hook onto their 2017 Toyota Corolla.
The Corolla driver backed out of the way, but found their way blocked by a car behind them; as shown in the video, the tow truck continued to attempt to grab the Corolla, and finally the car behind the Toyota was able to move out of the way, allowing the Corolla enough room to back up and escape.
A witness captured the whole thing on video, luckily, and it almost feels like a scene in a nature show where you’re rooting for the little rodent to get away from the big lizard, or something:
This is all very alarming, because just what is that tow truck driver planning to do here? Watching the video, it’s clear the tow truck driver is attempting to capture the car. Joanne, the woman in the Toyota seen in the video, notes that her car’s payments and registration are all up to date, but even if they weren’t, there’s no law that I know of in this country that would make it okay to take someone and trap them in their car as their vehicle is being towed away.
The truck gives pursuit after the Corolla speeds off, which makes this even stranger. Why is he so focused on that car? And, what would have been the plan had he managed to get it hooked onto the tow bar? The Corolla is front-wheel drive, so in theory, he could have towed it away, to go where? Back to the tow yard? To effectively ransom the car back to its owners, who have been unwillingly transported along with the car? These all sound like crimes.
Was this a case of mistake car-identity? I tried reaching out to Specialty Towing, both directly and through their dispatch service, and while they didn’t answer on their direct line, the dispatcher told me they’d pass my message onto them, but I don’t think I’ll be holding my breath.
It’s likely worth noting that Specialty Towing’s owners were charged with benefits fraud by the City Attorney of San Francisco, per the City Attorney’s website, and the company is currently suspended from bidding on any city contracts.
I know there are many stories of shady tow companies doing some pretty shitty and underhanded things, but this has to be the first time I’ve heard of a tow truck attempting to apparently steal a currently-driven car right off the streets, with people inside.
If you’re ever in this situation, I wonder what the best thing to do is? If there’s room, backing away certainly seems to be the first, best, most instinctive thing, but what if you can’t back up? Can cranking your front wheels all the way to one side or the other impede those yokes from being able to connect? If your parking brake is on, will the yokes pull away? Honestly I’m not sure, but if this sort of thing keeps happening, maybe we should find an expert and do some tests.
Anyway, this is awful, and I think we should all be aware of it.
“assisting EMS and FD” like how cops do, Ralph Wiggum style: “I’m helping!”