$2 Million Settles Suit in Tow Truck Death

The family of a Santa Ana man who died while trying to stop a tow truck driver from taking his car accepted a $2-million settlement this week in its wrongful death suit.

The incident helped bring attention to the practice of predatory towing, in which tow truck operators lie in wait for motorists to park illegally, even snatching cars on private property without getting permission from the property owner.

In another highly publicized case that spurred action from Congress, a tow truck driver in Garden Grove four months earlier hauled away a car with a sleeping 4-year-old boy inside.

In the Santa Ana case, Leoncio Flores, 42, was run over last June as he chased the tow truck and pleaded with its driver to release his car, said Federico Sayre, the attorney representing Flores’ family.

Flores, a forklift operator, illegally parked his SUV while he carried groceries into his condo on South Mantle Lane, Sayre said.

Flores returned as the tow truck driver was hooking up his car. He pleaded with the driver in English and Spanish and offered to pay $50 for the release of his car, according to police. The Villa McFadden Homeowners Assn. did not authorize the towing.

Tow truck operator Paul Michael Sassenberger, 30, ignored Flores and drove away. Witnesses told police Sassenberger played cat-and-mouse with Flores in the parking lot, speeding up and slowing down as Flores ran after him and knocked on the truck’s window.

At one point, Flores grabbed the side of the truck, lost his grip and was run over by the truck and the SUV.

Sassenberger, of San Bernardino County, tested positive for methamphetamine, said officials. He faces criminal charges related to this incident and nine other allegations of predatory towing between November 2003 and June 2005. He has pleaded not guilty to 26 felony counts and two misdemeanors, including vehicular manslaughter, extortion, assault and reckless driving.

His trial is scheduled to begin in May. If convicted, he could receive a maximum prison sentence of 15 years and four months.

The settlement will be paid by insurance companies for Pepe’s Towing of Santa Ana, the company that employed Sassenberger, and the Villa McFadden Homeowners Assn.

Lawyers for the defendants did not return calls seeking comment.

Flores’ widow will receive $1.3 million and his two teenage stepchildren, who were financially dependent on him, will be paid $125,000 each. An additional $135,000 will be given to each of Flores’ three children who live with his ex-wife in Mexico. Flores’ widow has decided to give Flores’ ex-wife $300,000 from her share.

Since the early 1990s, California law has prohibited towing of vehicles from private property without written authorization from the property manager, said Jeff Hunter, executive director of the California Tow Truck Assn. But a federal appeals court ruled the law unconstitutional in 1999. The decision prevented police from enforcing the law until the court reversed itself last May.

A provision in the federal transportation bill President Bush signed in August explicitly gave states the right to require tow truck operators to obtain written authorization from the property manager, who must also have a representative present when cars are towed from private property.