Latest news with #DowntownTowingandRecovery
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Yahoo
Complaints against KC tow companies continue after charges filed
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Another Kansas City resident is coming forward after their vehicle was illegally towed seven months ago. Sherrie Johnson lives in the city's southside with her boyfriend and daughter. After moving into their apartment last September, Johnson said she legally parked her vehicle outside, but when she went out her door the next morning, it was gone. KCPD investigating deadly shooting near 55th, Euclid Avenue It's been nothing short of a nightmare trying to get her 2002 GMC Yukon back from Downtown Towing and Recovery. 'Since September, until now, we have been fighting to get it back. They were supposed to return it, but no return.' Johnson said her apartment complex had a contract with Downtown Towing at the time her vehicle was illegally removed. However, the company has since refused to tell her why it towed the vehicle in the first place or even let her near it. 'I have the registration, all of our belongings, my mother's ashes and [my boyfriend's] mother's ashes, my child's stuff is in there; we have very personal stuff that can't be replaced in that vehicle that proves that it's ours.' Despite going to the Northland-based company several times, Johnson told FOX4 that she had been cursed at and told to get off the property. The last communication she had with them happened in January when the owners told her she needed to contact their attorney. Again, she did, but nothing ever came of it. 'I would like for them to get shut down, because it's not fair to us as legal residents to keep going through this.' Johnson said Kansas City police told her they have dealt with this particular towing company for a while and that she needs to go through the city and the prosecutor's office to try to get her vehicle back. She did both of those things, but explained that it was nothing but red tape. 'I understand that if your vehicle is not registered correctly or if you got a flat tire, but that still doesn't give them the right to come and take it and not give you any information on how to retrieve it.' Family holds vigil, urging police to do more months after Kansas City man killed On Thursday, Johnson explained that her apartment complex had entered into a new agreement with a different tow company: Metro Tow & Transport. In fact, around six in the morning, Johnson saw that the company was putting stickers on residents' vehicles and even towing some of them. Metro Tow & Transport may sound familiar. Just this week, new charges were filed against that company's owner and his mother after several people claimed they were victimized by the company. Court records show that Lannette Adamson and her son, Donald Adamson, who owns Metro Tow & Transport, are charged with six felonies each: three counts of first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle and three counts of forgery. The mother and son already face nine felonies in Jackson County, Missouri. Court records show three separate instances in which Metro Tow & Transport illegally towed someone's vehicle, received payment from the owners to get their vehicle out of the tow lot, and forged signatures on documents related to the tows. The instances range from February to April 2025. This comes as detectives with the Kansas City Police Department are now looking into predatory towing. The department announced on Facebook that an email address is available for people to contact: predatorytowing@ Police said if you have experienced issues with a towing company in the city since January 1, you can send an email and property crime detectives will email you a form to complete. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Car owner, experts say Kansas City has a predatory towing problem
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It's called 'predatory towing.' Tow trucks take your car, often for questionable reasons, then make it as expensive as possible to get it back, and sometimes you don't. 'They stole my vehicle from this parking spot right here,' said 31-year-old Ahmani Lewis, a single mother. At the time, she was living at an apartment complex in south Kansas City. It was 6 a.m. 'I was carrying my baby, to take her today care and I came outside and my car was gone,' she said. 'So, I was like freaking out cause 'where's my car?', I don't know where my car is!' Residents at Kansas City apartment given 48 hours notice to leave But as she would soon find out, her 2017 Chevrolet Cruz had been taken by a tow truck from Downtown Towing and Recovery. Why? She was parked in a handicapped spot. Lewis found that the tow company wanted $405 to give her back her car. There was just one problem. When she went to the company's lot, she walked one of their employees to her car. 'I went to my car and showed her I had a handicapped placard in my car, which is what she's saying it was already towed for,' Lewis said. In other words, Lewis had not been in violation of the apartment complex's parking rules. 'So, you get in your car?' FOX4's Malik Jackson asked. 'Mm-mm.' 'You leave?' Jackson asked. 'I leave,' Lewis said. 'And you don't pay?' 'And I don't pay,' Lewis replied. But little did Lewis know, her problems were only beginning. Toni's Italian Restaurant closing Olathe location because of I-35 Highway project 'We absolutely believe that vehicles are being towed for no good reason,' Teresa Murray told FOX4, 'other than somebody wanting to make money off of it.' Murray is the consumer spokesperson for the Public Interest Research Group, also known as PIRG. Starting in 2021, PIRG did a two-part study called 'Getting Off the Hook of a Predatory Tow,' where they examined the issue in most of the U.S. and what kind of consumer legal protections there were in each state. In the process, Murray said, the group made a surprising discovery. 'Far and away, Missouri was the place for predatory towing,' Murray said. 'We got more complaints about Missouri.' On top of it, Murray added that a closer look at those complaints revealed that one of the worst places in the state was the Kansas City area. Part of the surprise behind their finding is that Missouri has a reputation for having good laws that protect car owners from bad tows. However, Murray explained, 'It's clear the laws are not being complied with and when people are making complaints, there's just no follow-through.' FOX4 found plenty of complaints of bad tows. Some were done without notifying the local police, as is required. Or law enforcement wouldn't be notified until days after the tow. Some tows had bogus towing permission documents that made it appear that someone from the parking property had requested the car's removal. In other cases, towing companies delayed customers from getting their vehicles back by claiming a variety of excuses. Murray suggested that officials 'need to put the fear of God into some of these towing companies.' After Lewis took back her Chevrolet Cruz, she said it didn't take long before she started receiving anonymous threats sent to her phone, such as the following: 'Hey Amahni I'm going to turn your car into a refrigerator. I know where you lay you head so keep that head on a swivel. You won't have your Cruze very much longer ..' 'I'm very terrified,' Lewis said. 'For somebody knowing they can come and take from you and nothing can be done is very, very, traumatizing.' A few days later, Lewis said it happened again: Her car had disappeared from the apartment lot. But this time, Lewis said no one reported to the police that it had been towed. Her landlord told her that she knew nothing about it. 'It's very unbelievable. I've never been without my car,' Lewis said. 'I've never been without my car. And I'm a really, good mom. Like I do, I go to work. I have my own business.' So how does Lewis know that it was Downtown Towing and Recovery that took her car again? First, her 2017 car was equipped with a tracker called 'On Star' that showed her car was now parked at the storage lot of Downtown Towing. Second, she got help from friend who happened to have a drone. They repeatedly flew it over the towing lot which revealed a black Chevrolet Cruz parked in the same spot identified by the OnStar tracker. In addition, the car had the same license plate as Lewis's vehicle. So, working for you, FOX4 decided to go to Downtown Towing and Recovery to talk with the owner. However, they claimed they had no idea where the owner was and threatened to call the police. 'You're trespassing,' they said. After repeated attempts to contact Downtown's owner via email, FOX4 eventually spoke with the company attorney. The attorney declined to speak on camera for an interview on behalf of his client. He also added that Downtown Towing and Recovery was not a predatory towing business. Download the FOX4 News app on iPhone and Android As for Lewis, because of a lack of funds, she is acting as her own attorney in a lawsuit that she filed against Downtown Towing and Recovery. Her next court date is March 11. As for her car, she said her 2017 Chevrolet Cruz has disappeared again. She says it's no longer in Downtown's lot and that the car's tracking system has apparently been removed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
