Bold Tow Truck Driver Accused Of Towing Legally-Parked Car

By Jim Bochnowski in News on May 13, 2015 7:05PM

The view from city lot #6.

Last month a hungry Portillo's customer took a one-man stand against predatory towing practices and now DNAinfo Chicago has brought to light the story of another man's experience with a determined towing company.

Sean Bresnahan claims he legally parked his car near his River West home last September and even has documentation that his girlfriend parked next to him. He looked out his window later that night and found his car had, somehow, disappeared. His girlfriend's car was still there.

Luckily for Bresnahan a construction worker, Jeff Barnes, said he saw everything.

“We pay a lot of attention to what’s going on down there,” Barnes told DNAinfo. “It’s Chicago, who knows, somebody could come shoot us.”

According to Barnes, a tow truck picked up Bresnahan's car and dropped it off in a "No Parking" zone. Barnes then observed the driver taking a picture of the car parked "illegally" then hooked the car back up, took it the impound lot and the rest is history.

Bresnahan said he contacted the towing company to try to find actual documentation of his "illegal" parking job, but was told they only give photos to the Illinois Commerce Commission or Better Business Bureau.

Interestingly enough, one month after this incident, the Chicago Police Department started an investigation into the same towing company for illegal practices. According to an official police spokesman, the investigation is still "ongoing."

We'll keep an eye on our cars in the meantime.