Going Toe to Tow With the Impound Detail

Lorine, the mistress of the switchboard, had left me a message.

“Please call Mrs. Weiner at. . . . “

A senior citizen, I thought. Young women don’t call themselves missus.

“My husband and I are senior citizens,” Mrs. Weiner said, right off the bat.

Something about her tone told me that a tale of injustice was coming my way.

“It’s a bad injustice that was done to us,” Mrs. Weiner said. “It’s a sad thing we had to go through.”

I was listening, hoping for at least 20 column inches worth of injustice. It was one of those Mondays, if you know what I mean.

What Mrs. Weiner had to say had possibilities. The elements include a golden wedding anniversary and a 1976 Cadillac de Ville, the LAPD and the North Hollywood locale.

What happened was this: Teri Weiner and her husband, Sammy--she’s 76, he’s 77--arrived home Sunday from a weeklong Caribbean cruise celebrating 50 years of matrimony to discover that Teri’s 21-year-old brown Caddie was missing. Soon they learned that the cops had it towed away from its usual spot in front of their home in the 7600 block of Bluebell Avenue.

“One hundred and thirty-two dollars and ninety-five cents.”

That’s how much the Weiners paid to bail the Caddie out of the tow yard.

*

In the annals of crime and punishment in Los Angeles, the questions raised by this Cadillac caper may not rank with, say, a shooting by a controversial LAPD surveillance squad that leaves a bystander wounded or a firefight between cops and bank robbers armed with AK-47s. Nor may the drama rival the palace intrigue surrounding Chief Willie Williams.

By conventional standards, it may not be newsworthy at all--except, perhaps, to the kind of columnist who tries to lend insight to the vicissitudes of everyday life, or maybe just a columnist in need.

But think about it: Here it is, only one week after a grateful public showered the LAPD’s North Hollywood Division with flowers and tributes for the courage displayed in the big Bank of America shootout. It’s somehow comforting to learn that Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public still won’t hesitate to complain about the heavy-handed ways of our famous police force.

Remember, senior citizens who’ve lived in the same house for 35 years and drive Cadillacs aren’t exactly the usual suspects. They are not the sort who often complains about police harassment. If this is the LAPD’s idea of community policing, Mrs. Weiner suggests, the agency could use a few lessons in being neighborly.

My research into Mrs. Weiner’s complaint ultimately led me to Senior Lead Officer Ruben Derma, a 25-year LAPD veteran who handles community-oriented policing in the couple’s community.

Why, with all those bad guys out there, I wondered, was he picking on a nice little old lady who was off celebrating her golden anniversary? And if the LAPD had to pick on little old ladies, officer, couldn’t it find one who doesn’t suffer severe arthritis?

That’s what I wondered. That isn’t how I phrased the questions.

Officer Derma explained that the police receive many, many complaints about abandoned automobiles, the kind that often are left to vandals. It’s a “quality of life” matter, Derma explained, so the police periodically send out an “impound detail” to identify and remove said vehicles.

First, the car tires are marked. Under state Vehicle Code 22651 K and Los Angeles Municipal Code 80.3.2, vehicles continuously parked on public roadways for more than 72 hours are subject to impounding. After 72 hours, Derma said, he left warnings on several vehicles that had not been moved. When he returned, owners of two cars had not heeded the warnings.

The Weiners’ neighbors explained to Officer Derma that the couple was on vacation. Officer Derma said this had indeed happened. But, he added: “How do I know?”

Nope, the old Caddie looked all but abandoned to him. There were cobwebs on the wheel wells. Obviously, it had been sitting there a long time.

But, I said, it had a disabled parking placard.

“Oh no it didn’t,” Officer Derma said.

Oh yes it did, Mrs. Weiner assured me. She told me that, when she paid the $132.95 to claim her car, she pointed out the placard to a man at the tow lot. It was on the dashboard, right under the windshield.

When Officer Derma acknowledged that perhaps he didn’t see the placard, I asked whether that would have made a difference. I mean, the disabled already get the best parking spaces, right? Why should they be excused from the 72-hour rule?

That’s what I wondered, not how I asked the question.

Officer Derma said that, yes, it probably would have made a difference. He probably wouldn’t have had this Caddie towed if he had noticed the disabled placard.

Mrs. Weiner told me she seldom uses the car. She parks it on the street only because, with her bad knees, the incline of the driveway makes it difficult for her to get in and out of the car. But it had never been towed before.

*

The night she and her husband came back from their golden anniversary cruise and discovered the Cadillac missing, Mrs. Weiner said, she called the police and spoke with an officer--not Derma--who rudely refused to offer any help. This added to her agitation.

She has since learned that she can appeal the impounding and seek a refund.

Mrs. Weiner says she plans to do that. And she has already called in complaints to her councilman and the mayor’s office.

I’m not an impound judge, but I’d be surprised if Mrs. Weiner doesn’t manage to get her $132.95 back. And I sincerely hope that her crusade doesn’t taint Officer Derma’s record. I was left with the impression that both Mrs. Weiner and Officer Derma deserve better. I hope they are able to let bygones be bygones.

The Case of the Cobwebbed Cadillac left me thinking of a bigger question:

Can’t we all just get along?

Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Readers may write to Harris at the Times Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311, or via e-mail at scott.harris@latimes.com Please include a phone number.

If this is the LAPD’s idea of community policing, Mrs. Weiner suggests, the agency could use a few lessons in being neighborly.