Police Authority to Tow Vehicles

Members of the Police Department may remove a vehicle from a street or highway to the nearest garage or other place of safety under the circumstances enumerated in this Section:When any vehicle is left unattended upon any bridge, viaduct or causeway or in any tube or tunnel where the vehicle constitutes an obstruction to traffic.When a vehicle upon a highway is so disabled as to constitute an obstruction to traffic and the person or persons in charge of the vehicle are by reason of physical injury incapacitated to such an extent as to be unable to provide for its custody or removal.When any vehicle is left unattended upon a street and is so parked illegally as to constitute a definite hazard or obstruction to the normal movement of traffic.When any vehicle is left unattended upon a street and is parked in front of a public or private driveway so as to constitute an obstruction to vehicular traffic using that driveway for purposes of egress and ingress.When any vehicle is left unattended and parked on a street or portion thereof so as to interfere with or impede construction or repairs being made thereon, provided adequate signs giving notice of construction and prohibiting parking, and designating the time of the prohibition are properly posted by the County Engineer.Whenever an officer removes or causes to be removed a vehicle from a street as authorized in this Article and the officer knows or is able to ascertain from the registration records in the vehicle the name and address of the owner thereof, the officer shall immediately give or cause to be given notice to the Police Department Dispatch Office the fact of the removal and the reasons therefor, and of the place to which the vehicle has been moved.Whenever an officer removes a vehicle from a street and does not know and is not able to ascertain the name of the owner as provided in this Article, and in the event the vehicle is not returned to the owner within a period of three (3) days, then and in that event, the officer shall immediately send or cause to be sent a written report of the removal by mail to the County Treasurer whose duty it is to register motor vehicles. The report shall include a complete description of the vehicle, the date, time, and place from which removed, the reasons for the removal, the name of the garage or place where the vehicle is stored.The registered owner of the vehicle shall be liable for all reasonable expenses incurred by the removal and storage.