‘Picked the worst day to do this,’ cries driver as he’s towed after knock on door in night – he was left in the rain | 88I24H8 | 2024-05-12 12:08:01
'Picked the worst day to do this,' cries driver as he's towed after knock on door in night – he was left in the rain | 88I24H8 | 2024-05-12 12:08:01
A CAMPER van was removed from city streets after nearby residents and business owners complained about its parking.
The towing operation enforced recently enacted parking rules, but left an owner and dogs in the rain during a torrential downpour.
Aaron Lackett was fast asleep in a camper trailer he was using as an emergency shelter when police knocked on the vehicle's door in 2023, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Lackett and his dogs, Nala and Charlie, were jolted awake at 8 am by the sound of the knocking.
Police said the owner had to move the trailer to another street immediately.
Unable to move the trailer in time, Lackett's home was towed from the street-side spot.
Lackett's trailer was one of five RVs the Sacramento Police were sent to tow from a street, hours before a three-day rain storm.
Joe Hill, another resident experiencing homelessness in the area, also had his camper swept from the street.
"We don't know where to go," Hill said.
"I guess we're going to find tarps and tents … They picked the worst day to do this."
Neither driver was offered shelter before the storm.
Lackett said he had experienced towing sweeps before, but this further complicated things for him.
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> "They just run us around back and forth," Lackett complained.
"It makes it hard to get on our feet."
The city said it made the towing effort after several housed residents complained about the emergency housing encampment.
Kelli Trapani, the city spokesperson, said the vehicles had been parked in their street-side spots for more than 72 hours.
She also said some vehicles were blocking sidewalks, and rubbish from the encampment had reportedly clogged nearby water drainage.
<p class="article__content--intro"> You can avoid being ticketed by following all posted laws and ordinances, but sometimes mistakes are made </p> </div> </div> "During this inclement weather, the decision to remove any vehicles in violation of California Vehicle Code will be made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account both public safety and the safety of those occupying vehicles," Trapani said in a statement.
At the time, Governor Gavin Newsom declared California was in a state of emergency as Sacremento braced for inches of rain and 50 mph gusts of wind over the three-day period.
"The city should be ashamed of towing our unhoused neighbors vehicular homes when we are facing one of the worst storms in history, causing the governor to declare an emergency," Bob Erlenbusch, the spokesperson for the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, said.
Erlenbusch said many unhoused residents are forced into a deeper cycle of homelessness after law enforcement grabs vehicular homes.
Most residents cannot pony up $200 for the towing fine – dozens of vehicles don't have the proper permits.
In December 2021, the city's council debated plans to stop towing vehicles used as homeless shelters.
The vote failed on a six to three margin.
More >> https://ift.tt/Hv5SthZ Source: MAG NEWS
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