Ticketed: UNSAFE TOWING DEVICE

[rch75]

I’m highly disappointed to report the DA in Texas City decided to drop the case after reviewing the body cam footage and dash cam footage “in the name of justice”.
I got around to filing a request for a copy of the films and rather than send me a copy they watched them and dropped my case.
I don’t want to poke the bear, but I kinda want copies of them to remember how it all happened now.

Sponsored

 

[MaverickDragon]

Not at all surprised.
There is a BIG difference between towing someone down the interstate with a tow strap (perhaps what they saw) vs. pulling someone out of a dangerous situation in an emergency to possibly save a life.
It's illegal to break someone's window an go into their house uninvited, but it isn't breaking and entering when you do that to rescue the person overcome by smoke dying on a couch.

 

[dumbcomputers]

What an A-Hole...Karma is a bitch tho... Loved how you kept your sense of humor, says a lot.

 

[dochawk]

I don’t want to poke the bear, but I kinda want copies of them to remember how it all happened now.

You might be able to get them with a state FOIA request, but I don't know about your state.

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

I’m highly disappointed to report the DA in Texas City decided to drop the case after reviewing the body cam footage and dash cam footage “in the name of justice”.
I got around to filing a request for a copy of the films and rather than send me a copy they watched them and dropped my case.
I don’t want to poke the bear, but I kinda want copies of them to remember how it all happened now.

It's a win. Take it with a grin.

 

[Cherokee]

What an A-Hole...Karma is a bitch tho... Loved how you kept your sense of humor, says a lot.

That cop was on drugs.
Total dumb ass.

Our local boys make up our LE force.
They would have had a short discussion about it and left it at that.

 

[ScottyC]

I remember once as a kid, my brother broke down in his car about 3-4 hours away and my dad and I went to go get him and the car. we were flat-towing it with straps (late 1970's) and the toll taker would not allow us on the NYS Thruway with that set up so we had to tow it home on the back roads through the Catskills of NY with my brother in the broken down car steering it...went from a 3-4 hour trip to 6-8 hour sojourn to get him home....man, was my dad pissed. But, no one pulled us over and we made it home. We had multiple straps and the car was something like 3 feet from dads custom rear bumper made out of 3/4" inch boiler plate steel on the back of his 1975 Ford F-250 highboy. No damage to bumper but the front of the Vega my brother owned took some light damage for sure.

Different time for sure and I would never attempt something like that today at all. Call a wrecker and let them handle it, or at the very least, get a tow dolly.

 

[SafetyGuy]

I am glad this finally worked out alright in the end, but it took quite a circuitous path to finally sort itself out.

Another towing story, sorry!

We were living in The Hague and another family living close to us was an RCMP couple (both), one was posted to the embassy.

Late one evening I got a call for a rescue at the local Albert Heijn grocery store about 2 or 3 klicks away, they had an Acura that ate batteries (till I changed the alternator for them).

I headed over with my Jeep Liberty, got out my tow rope and carefully towed it back to our place for me to have a look at.

I am glad it was late at night so very little traffic, as I don't know what the police might have thought, but the RCMP friend sure was happy to have had the help...and the new alternator installed.

Andy

 

[JMJB]

Short " tow" story .
A large construction company I dealt with got a fully loaded cement mixer truck stuck in the mud .
An idiot coworker threw a tow chain around the front axle ....yup ....ripped the axle right out .
They couldn't let the cement harden in the drum so they had to dump it all out , right there , before attending to the cement truck .
Same company ...they had a job site pit to drive the water trucks down into for refilling the trucks with water . Over a weekend vandals broke in , drained the overhead water tank into the pit .
The workers came to work on Monday to find one of the water trucks floating in the pit , nose down ..

Okay , one more , the owner of the construction company was " one of a kind "
He wanted to show somebody how to properly drive the Caterpillar , smacked his head , no hard hat , knocked his out for a few seconds , during that time the Cat drove over his prized V12 BMW sedan that was parked at the jobsite ...

I liked that guy , he eventually died when his private plane he was flying iced up and went down over the Sierras ...

 

[SafetyGuy]

Okay, I have one more tow story.

It was a dark and very snowy Christmas Eve and we (4 of us and our dog) were headed through Algonquin Park to Petawawa for a family Christmas.

We came across an older model Chrysler mini-van in the ditch, middle of nowhere. It was full of Quebec'ers also headed somewhere for Christmas.

I pulled our F150 to the side, 4 way flashers, pulled out safety lights and reflective safety vests-can't be too careful, considering the conditions. A narrow winding slippery 2 lane through hills.

I got the tow rope hooked up (I gave one of the reflective vests and safety light to flag/warn other passing vehicles to another motorist, but everyone was stopping to help, which was nice).

Suddenly a park ranger pulls up, tells me I have to stop and wait for the police and a tow truck. I did the 5 second pause, blinked and said there isn't any damage, no accident, no injuries and we all just wanted to get safely headed to our Christmas destination. And I carefully pulled them out of the deep ditch with way too much snow in it.

I did have some traction grit and spread it so with my 1997 F150 rwd I could get enough purchase to get them out.

All good, no need to exchange cash for the help, just be careful on the slippery roads and an adios! I never did hear back that I was reported or anything so it all went as well as could be expected.

Just another example of you never know when you could come across someone in need of help.

I would have tried to help the elderly lady (as the OP did) as well, of course.

Andy

I edited which F150 I had at the time, as this one only was rwd, not 4 wheel drive.

 

[MaverickDragon]

Towing, yanked axles, floating water trucks and now, a not so great transportation event...

I was following the company vanpool driver one evening to his house to drive the van home as I was going to drive the vanpool the next day. The guy had a fairly narrow driveway, so he slowed down to pull in the van.

Between him and I was a guy in a pickup truck that had a load of 2X4's stacked all the way up to the the top of the sides of the truck's bed.

Apparently, he wasn't happy with the 5.3 seconds he needed to wait until the van made it in off the street. He revved the engine several times to show his displeasure, popped the clutch and took off burning rubber.

The full load of lumber that wasn't tied down decided to stay where it was as the truck took off leaving the several hundred studs behind, briefly in a neat stack floating on air, until gravity took over and delivered it all over the road when it dropped.

Apparently the guy never saw the tablecloth yank leaving the table settings behind trick.

According to my colleague, he was able to continue his journey sometime much later.
Me, I just smiled and waved as I drove the van out.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

Short " tow" story .
A large construction company I dealt with got a fully loaded cement mixer truck stuck in the mud .
An idiot coworker threw a tow chain around the front axle ....yup ....ripped the axle right out .
They couldn't let the cement harden in the drum so they had to dump it all out , right there , before attending to the cement truck .
Same company ...they had a job site pit to drive the water trucks down into for refilling the trucks with water . Over a weekend vandals broke in , drained the overhead water tank into the pit .
The workers came to work on Monday to find one of the water trucks floating in the pit , nose down ..

Okay , one more , the owner of the construction company was " one of a kind "
He wanted to show somebody how to properly drive the Caterpillar , smacked his head , no hard hat , knocked his out for a few seconds , during that time the Cat drove over his prized V12 BMW sedan that was parked at the jobsite ...

I liked that guy , he eventually died when his private plane he was flying iced up and went down over the Sierras ...

I was waiting for disclosure that his seat belt was jammed up, couldn't be released causing him to die of thirst!

 

[James K]

I remember once as a kid, my brother broke down in his car about 3-4 hours away and my dad and I went to go get him and the car. we were flat-towing it with straps (late 1970's) and the toll taker would not allow us on the NYS Thruway with that set up so we had to tow it home on the back roads through the Catskills of NY with my brother in the broken down car steering it...went from a 3-4 hour trip to 6-8 hour sojourn to get him home....man, was my dad pissed. But, no one pulled us over and we made it home. We had multiple straps and the car was something like 3 feet from dads custom rear bumper made out of 3/4" inch boiler plate steel on the back of his 1975 Ford F-250 highboy. No damage to bumper but the front of the Vega my brother owned took some light damage for sure.

Different time for sure and I would never attempt something like that today at all. Call a wrecker and let them handle it, or at the very least, get a tow dolly.

Those types of regulations are exactly why this country has the problems we have. Back in the day the people willing to tow long distance by strap seldom made it to 25 years of age. Now, now they live well into their 80s and many end up in Congress.

 

[ScottyC]

...Now, now they live well into their 80s and many end up in Congress.

Congressman ScottyC.....

 

[rch75]

Different time for sure and I would never attempt something like that today at all. Call a wrecker and let them handle it, or at the very least, get a tow dolly.
[/QUOTE]

They’ re only different times of we let them be don’t give up your freedom without a little resistance.

Sponsored