When a tow truck tried to take the moving automobile of an East Bay, California, couple, they were traveling through downtown San Francisco when the stunning occurrence occurred. The event happened on April 9th early in the morning as the couple—who were only known as Joanne and her husband—were doing errands, according to ABC7.
“We were at a stoplight and minding our own business,” Joanne said. When they saw a yellow Specialty Towing truck approaching a neighboring Waymo driverless car, they halted around Bush and Montgomery. But shortly after, the vehicle approached their 2017 Toyota Corolla in an uncomfortable way.
“His approach was sideways. I believed he was making a right turn. The lights all turned on and he started in reverse. At that point, we realized something was very wrong. “His lever was descending,” Joanne clarified. The event was caught on camera by a witness, who saw the tow truck try many times to connect to their vehicle. On the video, the witness can be heard yelling, “What the f**k are you doing!”
The Waymo vehicle sped off as the light turned green, leaving Joanne and her husband stranded in front of a black sedan. “We were hysterical. “My initial reaction was to flee,” Joanne remarked. Fortunately, the black automobile reversed, letting them get away. Still, the tow vehicle pursued it for a few blocks.
Joanne said, “It’s definitely really scary,” as she thought back on the event and speculated about what would have occurred if the tow truck had been able to properly latch onto their vehicle.
City Attorney David Chiu accused Specialty Towing, the firm that operated the tow truck, in February of fraud and unlawfully towing parked automobiles. Due to its “unscrupulous” reputation, the corporation is no longer allowed to submit bids or accept contracts from cities. After managing to misplace the tow truck, Joanne and her spouse went back to their East Bay residence. They continue to be perplexed as to why they were singled out and maintain that they have done nothing wrong. “Full disclaimer: I definitely paid off my car, I paid my registration,” Joanne said.
Joanne is sharing their tale to help other drivers be aware of the situation and intends to file a police report shortly. “Be more careful when they’re driving around and make sure if something doesn’t look right, you do your best to protect yourself,” she said.
