Man yells and smashes tow truck window in Vancouver

[TowNews]

 

Police have forwarded charges of assault with a weapon, uttering threats, mischief and possession of a dangerous weapon to Crown for review. 

 

Vancouver Police say they responded to a report of a man who smashed the window of a Drake Towing vehicle Monday morning. 

 

Cst. Tania Visintin tells Vancouver Is Awesome in an email that police responded to the call just after 11 a.m. in a parking lot at 3490 Kingsway Avenue. 

 

"The suspect was having his car towed from the parking lot when he approached the tow truck and smashed the driver’s side window with a hammer," writes Visintin. 

 

Once police arrived, the suspect was arrested and taken to jail. 

 

Thankfully, no one was injured in the altercation.

 

A video of the incident has also been shared on Reddit by seansethi81. In it, a man argues with the driver of a Drake Towing vehicle who appears to be towing his car.

 

At one point, the man smashes the tow truck driver's window with a hammer and begins to yell at him and tells him to, "come here." The tow truck driver tells him to, "move back," and to, "stay away from me."

 

Another individual also repeatedly tells the man who is yelling at the tow truck driver to, "calm down." 

 

The final frame of the video shows the man that was yelling being arrested.

 

Police have forwarded charges of assault with a weapon, uttering threats, mischief and possession of a dangerous weapon to Crown for review. 

 

RESOURCE LINK with video

[TowZone]

 

[GRUMPS The Towman]

I gotta give the Operator TONS of credit for keeping his cool. If this bozo wanted a fight with me so bad that he smashed my window and truck with a hammer, he would have got one... 

[TowZone]

Remember that hammer could have been a gun. He's very lucky this time, but I would not have been a YouTube or a Headline in the News. Fight or Flight, I would have drop it and returned another day. This PPI was not worth anyone life, theirs always another. My thoughts are this is an adjoining business disputed.

 

How many vehicles are in the lot?

 

Would you ever turn your back on anyone at a PPI or Repo? I sure wouldn't without Backup or a Blocker. That's a Rear Wheel Drive BMW if I am not mistaken. I saw someone say the company blocks vehicles in and calls for a rollback in these situations.I don't know if that is true, but the tow truck driver could be arrested by some local regulations. They have to be able to transport the vehicle with the equipment hooked to it, otherwise they must release to the owner, no drop fee. If the owner comes out and they are hooked to the vehicle, they must offer a drop fee. Tow Operators are being arrested for these violations, though most officers tell them to drop unless they have left the property. This is PPI, REPO is a different animal as long as the Repo Driver produces proper paper work. We find that more than half do not have paper work or a printer. That's an arrest if the officer decides to pursue it. Luckily for those not following the law most officers aren't interested unless it becomes a confrontation.

[GRUMPS The Towman]

My original comment is meant only for the direct incident of the man attacking the operator and his truck.

Aside from whatever the reason was that this Operator chose to stay there and hold the car hostage, the vehicle owner STILL chose to attack him with a weapon, threaten bodily harm and destroy his property. For those reasons, I stand behind my statement. I would of and will respond with the necessary force to protect myself and my property.

Now, As far as the situation that brought these 2 men to cross paths, I most certainly do not agree with the whole "block it in till the other truck gets here" thing.. Around here that would be illegal. If you cant take it with what you have then your not taking it.. Here if it is a ppi and this guy came out prior to you moving or lifting the vehicle, then your obligated to just release it and tell them to move it. If it has been moved or lifted, you can charge a hook fee. As fired up as this guy was, at that point I probably would have just let it go to avoid escalating the situation

It seems to be another case of a poorly trained operator getting into something he has no place being a part of.  If it is that companies policy to have their guys hold cars hostage while they get different trucks or personnel  there to perform the actual tow then I would guess this type of issue has happened in the past. Obviously the man was very volatile the moment he confronted the operator. The operator should have cut bait and left the moment the man walked off to retrieve his weapon.

[yoBdaBenO]

That impound was not worth the tow truck drivers life. Yes, I know he was not injured this time. But, there will be another time and he might not be so lucky. Never ever turn your back on a subject and if you choose to run to what you feel is the safety of the cab of the truck. Be Prepared to Leave... I believe this was a serious lack of proper training. Our drivers are trained much better and this scenario would not have resulted in a confrontation. We will be going over this in our next safety meeting. Thanks TowForce for the great resource for safety meeting material. I just don't get this from Facebook, those guys just what to complain and bash one another anymore. No real dialog at all..

[Moose]

Oh Hell No, my drivers know better then to hang around. Our trucks have been shot at in the past and threaten with the bat. All drivers carry either concealed or open, it's their choice and they know it's the last option not the first. Thinking of adding body cams if it gets much worse.

[TowNews]

FOLLOW UP STORY:

 

Vancouver bubble tea shop owners apologize for manager who smashed tow truck window (VIDEO)

 

The man smashed the tow truck driver's window with a hammer and yelled at him and tells him to, "come here."

 

The owner of a Vancouver bubble tea shop has issued a statement regarding a violent incident that involved one of its store managers and a tow truck driver. 

 

On July 13, Vancouver Police responded to a report of a man who smashed the window of a Drake Towing vehicle. Cst. Tania Visintin tells Vancouver Is Awesome in an email that police responded to the call just after 11 a.m. in a parking lot at 3490 Kingsway Avenue. 

 

"The suspect was having his car towed from the parking lot when he approached the tow truck and smashed the driver’s side window with a hammer," writes Visintin. 

 

Once police arrived, the suspect was arrested and taken to jail. No one was injured.

 

In an email to V.I.A. on July 17, the owners of Jenjudan Kingsway write that one of their store managers engaged, "in behaviour that was unacceptable in an incident regarding a tow truck driver." 

 

The owners add that the initial dispute led to a series of "alarming events" that started with the towing of a vehicle off of the establishment's property. 

"We want the community to know that Jenjudan does not condone any behaviour of this kind, ever, and that we are deeply surprised and disappointed to see this happen," writes Jenjudan. "We also want to extend our thoughts and sincere apologies to the tow truck driver in this situation and want to express our sincere apology."

 

Although the incident took place off of company property, the owners say that they have suspended the store manager and advised him to seek professional help. They are also conducting a review of their company training program to ensure that incidents like this do not occur in the future. 

 

RESOURCE LINK

 

A video of the incident has also been shared on Reddit. In it, a man argues with the driver of a Drake Towing vehicle who appears to be towing his car.

At one point, the man smashes the tow truck driver's window with a hammer and begins to yell at him and tells him to, "come here." The tow truck driver tells him to, "move back," and to, "stay away from me."

 

TowForce has been contacted by a third party that this is a Patrol Towing situation and there was a confrontation prior to this altercation. At that time to Tow Truck which was not capable of transporting the vehicle due to a lack of dollies hooked up to the vehicle. It is unclear if the vehicle was actually transported following the altercation, but it is assumed it was towed.

 

Note: the situation may have been escalated prior to the video by which party is unclear. However, what was clear from the third party is the Tow Truck Driver could have deescalated to the situation prior to the attack. Does that justify the attack, not in the least. It does serve as a reminder tow truck drivers have a responsibility for both their own safety and the safety of others. This could have turned out much worse!

[rreschran]

Here's the dialog: "Chill-out, chill-out, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, chill-out, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, chill-out, relax, relax, chill-out, Okay?"

 

The psychologist at the end of the video offers a solid explaination and perhaps some reasoning likened to the Texas tower shot and killed in Houston last year? It's my opinion that open carry or showing one's sidearm only leads to an escalation of deadly force when two "Type-A" personalitles go toe-to-toe? To that point, a tow related shooting happened a few months back, in Harris County, Texas, where a tower allegedly shot someone in the face and the result of tow activity from private property. Even the most well-trained personalities can have weapons training, but when things go sideways, not all personalities maintain the calm it takes to NOT shoot someone in the face.

 

So, was this impound on or off-property? Perhaps this is one reason (why) many cities have changed towing laws to reflect the immediate release of a vehicle when the vehicle isn't off property? Training should focus on what towers should do to de-escalate a potentially violent scenario. I agree with Ben this is a great training video asking drivers ... "What would you do if?"    R. 

Edited August 18, 2020 by rreschran

[TowZone]

It is a fact that the majority of tow truck drivers are not trained to de-escalate a situation as first responders are trained. This causes a high probability that such confrontations lead into situations which could have been controlled had they been properly trained in simulated situations. It's just not that difficult, there are those of us in this industry that have the experiences along with training that within a few hours we could run through numerous situations which would give a driver skills which may very well save their life. Don't ever expect a driver with less then 10 years and no training to be able to handle such situations by themselves. I've even seen three drivers against one person unable to control the situation. hey simply lacked to mind and skill set they would have gonna had they been properly trained.

 

Carrying a Gun Open Or Concealed still requires training and disciplined. I open carry because that is the requirement, I don't even think about it anymore and it is a last resort. The goal is to make it through life without ever pulling you gun on another person. But be prepared, it could happen!

 

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[yoBdaBenO]

We have asked both the Police and Sheriff Departments if they could send someone qualified out to speak with our drivers. The answer was "Oh, we don't do that" and we asked what about when you send and officer into a school to talk to students. The answer was We haven't done that in several years". Then it hit me, we have not been asked to supply the police with a vehicle for high school wreck reenactment/scenario in a few years. Guess Texting and Driving, Not Wearing Seat Belts are not as important anymore. Then it hit me again, could it be the schools don't want police officers in them anymore. That could be the case and if so that stands to reason many of the problems we have with the youth. They took God Out of the Schools before I was in school and now they have taken police out of schools since I graduated.

 

In the End all tow truck operators now need specialized training before they find themselves in a similar situation to this one. We tell our drivers to just walk away from the situation and our dispatchers know this policy. Neither the Driver or Dispatcher are to question one another. If one decides to walk away the other backs them up. We then review the situation later and since we have not had many such instances. Our need for training may not be as great as a tow company located in a big city.