We all know how sleazy towing companies can be. Out of Forging a driver’s signature To The target group is people with low incomes, whenever we think they can’t go any deeper, they do. Now, via Reddit, we have more evidence of how terrible many tow companies are.
A Reddit user posted a video r/sanfrancisco It shows a tow truck driver attempting to hitch and tow a vehicle in traffic. This is not a vehicle that was left behind by its owner, no, it is a vehicle entity driven by someone sitting in a traffic jam at an intersection waiting for a traffic light to change. The original poster and recorder of the video described the situation in the comments:
They were driving in normal traffic and were first at the light when the tow truck drove up a cross street and tried to hit them. At first I thought they were going for the Waymo, but they lined up on the road at a traffic light and tried to automatically charge it in a two-person traffic jam.
Luckily, the driver of the Toyota managed to escape the tow truck by backing up and going around the truck as soon as the light turned green. This is a problem for several reasons. The most obvious is the danger to the vehicle occupants and all other road users. It’s a busy day in San Francisco! Anything could have happened in this strange game of cat and mouse.
The language of California Penal Code § 207 could view the tow driver’s actions as a form of kidnapping. There are also California Penal Code § 215 what carjacking covers:
The criminal expropriation of a motor vehicle in the possession of another person from the person or immediate presence of an occupant of the motor vehicle, against his will and with the intent to confiscate it either permanently or in the immediate vicinity of the person owning the motor vehicle , to temporarily deprive him of his possession, through violence or fear.
The towing company the truck is associated with, Specialty Towing, doesn’t appear to be a particularly reputable company either. In February, David Chiu became San Francisco city attorney six local towing companies suspended of business with the city. Of those six, three – including Specialty Towing – belonged to two private individuals, Abigail Fuentes and Jose Badillo. It turned out that the two were up to no good. They were involved in a social assistance system and provided information about their income in order to receive public assistance opinion from Chiu’s office.
In October 2023, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office charged Fuentes and Badillo with multiple felonies related to an alleged welfare fraud scheme. For a time, Fuentes worked as a senior eligibility worker at the Human Services Agency, where she approved applications for public welfare programs. Allegedly, Fuentes improperly approved Badillo’s application without disclosing that she had a personal relationship with Badillo.
In addition, both Fuentes and Badillo are alleged to have lied about their significant income and assets in order to receive public benefits to which they were not entitled. Fuentes and Badillo both received benefits under Medi-Cal, and Fuentes received additional benefits from CalFresh and CalWORKs.
How they are attempting to operate in the city and illegally tow vehicles just over a month after the city decided not to do business with them is just one of the many mysteries captured in this video.