Man Held on Assault After Fracas at Impound Lot, Police Say

A Newhall man allegedly sideswiped a truck, smashed through a fence and struck the owner of an impound lot Monday while trying to get his car out without paying, sheriff’s deputies said.

Robert Shane, 20, is being held on $20,000 bail at the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon and may face theft charges, said Lt. Steve Dolan of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

According to Dolan, Shane and a woman drove into T & G Towing Service at about 6:30 a.m. Monday, telling workers and the company’s owner, Antonio Garcia, that he was taking his car. The car had been impounded the previous night in Canyon Country for parking next to a fire hydrant.

When Shane refused to pay the $83 fee, Garcia asked the couple to leave. Instead, Shane got into his car to drive off. As one of Garcia’s employees drove a tow truck into his path, Shane gunned the engine, striking the truck and Garcia’s knee before crashing through the exit gate, Dolan said. Garcia, 36, suffered minor bruises.

As deputies were taking Garcia’s report, Shane’s mother called the sheriff’s station to complain that the tow yard had seized her son’s car illegally. Deputies went to her home and arrested Shane there, Dolan said.

“The whole thing is on videotape,” Dolan said. “The deputy who took the report watched the tape from a camera they have set up in the yard, and everything happened just like Garcia said it did.”