Candidate for Towing Pact Says Police Harassed Him

The battle was for an obscure but lucrative prize--a police towing contract worth at least $1 million a year for the private firm that could capture it.

For most of the 13 applicants, the chase ended Tuesday when the Los Angeles Police Commission chose Art’s Towing Service of Alhambra to handle all police towing duties in its Northeast Division. The selection means Art’s Towing will be called, and will collect the fees, anytime police ask for a vehicle to be towed in an area extending from east Hollywood to the Pasadena border.

But for at least one loser, the issues extended far beyond the commission action.

Even before Tuesday’s 5-0 vote, highly rated applicant Joo Y. (Joe) Kim sent letters to the Police Commission alleging that police detectives tried to force him out of the running and bias the selection procedure against Kim’s company, World Auto Repair Center of Los Angeles.

Threats Alleged

Kim claims the officers paid a visit to his downtown office twice in March, searching for narcotics, poring over his files and letters and asking pointed questions about his sources of income. During a second visit, on March 25, two detectives threatened to arrest him unless he signed a written withdrawal of his towing application, Kim alleged.

“After almost an hour of intimidation and pressure in the office, which was locked by the detectives, they coerced Mr. Kim into writing a note of withdrawal, which this board has properly chosen to ignore,” Kim’s attorney, Don White, told commissioners in a letter dated April 7.

The officers were identified by White as Wayne Wealer and Juan Dominguez, detectives who are routinely assigned to scrutinize police towing contractors. According to the attorney, the two officers improperly confiscated Kim’s tow bills for 1986, his check stubs for 1987 and 1988 and his repair bills for the last three years.

“After Detective Wealer obtained what he seemed to come for, he said to my client, ‘You zip your mouth, you son of a bitch, or I’ll put you in jail forever,’ ” White wrote.

LAPD officials contacted Tuesday declined to comment on the allegations, saying the matter is under internal investigation. At Tuesday’s board meeting, an aide to City Councilman Nate Holden joined attorney White in asking commissioners to delay the vote until the internal probe is completed.

However, commission President Robert Talcott turned down the requests, saying the Northeast Division has gone too long without an approved towing contractor.

The Northeast Division has been without a tow operator since August, when the previous contractor lost exclusive rights to the area because of operating problems and complaints, police officials said.

In each of 18 city police divisions, a single tow service handles all police-ordered towing and impounding to clear away traffic accidents and remove abandoned vehicles. The contracts are granted for three years and are considered plums because they generate enormous amounts of business that is virtually guaranteed.

Although attorney White declined to speculate on why police detectives might have singled out Kim for harassment, he noted that contention over the contract seemed to escalate in February.

At that time, a routine police investigation of all the applicants led police staff to recommend four applicants above the others. Two of those four--Crescenta Valley Tow Inc. and Henry’s Auto Service Inc.--appeared to have possible zoning problems at their impound yards, however, according to the staff report.

The remaining two, Kim’s World Auto Repair Center and Art’s Towing Service, thus appeared to become front-runners in the contest.

In the staff report, both operators drew glowing reviews. Kim was cited for his charity work with the Lion’s Club.

Art Mercer, the owner of Art’s Towing, was praised for his professionalism and credited for 12 years of experience, including work for the Alhambra Police Department and the California Highway Patrol.

After the staff report was released, however, the candidates were allowed to respond to it in writing.

In Kim’s letter of response, he called attention to alleged problems with the soil at Art Mercer’s one-acre lot in Alhambra. The yard, once used for junked cars, showed evidence of oil and other chemicals that may have leaked from old vehicles, Kim told police.

According to police, county officials also received an anonymous tip on about the same date, calling attention to the soil at Mercer’s lot.

Hauler Hired

The tips ultimately forced Mercer to hire a licensed hauler to dispose of “about 100 gallons . . . of dirty water and oil,” according to Mercer.

Ten days after Los Angeles County environmental officials visited Mercer’s lot, three detectives arrived at Kim’s office, looking through drawers and old phone bills and asking about “dirty books” and “white powder”--apparent references to fraudulent bookkeeping and cocaine possession, according to attorney White.

The next week, Detectives Wealer and Dominguez showed up and coerced Kim into signing a withdrawal letter that he later disavowed, White said.

“It is my understanding they are trying to manufacture a case against my client so that Art’s (Towing Service) gets it . . . or at least so Mr. Kim does not get it,” White said of the contract.

Mercer, meanwhile, said he had no knowledge of police harassment of Kim.

“This is the first I know about that letter,” he said before Tuesday’s meeting. “No, I didn’t say anything (to police). I just worry about myself. May the best man win.”