Driver rams vehicle at tow lot: Police

Driver rams vehicle at tow lot: Police


Picking up a car from the impound lot can be frustrating. To hear Fairfax City police tell it, though, a woman took things well past too far on Monday afternoon.

At 4:39 p.m., an employee at Henry's Wrecker Service 10401 Eaton Place called to report that after the driver had paid a towing fee, she rammed the car into another vehicle, which yielded an estimated $1,500 damage to an entrance gate.

“Apparently she was angry,” said Officer Lynn Coulter, a police spokeswoman.

Coulter said the driver was a friend of the car’s owner. No arrests were reported as of 1 p.m. today.

Things can get tense at the lots.

“I had a guy almost run me over 10 years ago,” Coulter said.

And she was in uniform.

James W. Smith, manager of the facility, declined to comment specifically on the case. But he said he understands, up to a point, why drivers get so frustrated:

“My, God yes," he said. "You come out in the morning, and your vehicle is gone. You’re expecting to go to work, and your chariot is not there.”

But he also sees people go overboard.

"I have been hit at, I've been spit at, I've had weapons pulled on me," said Smith, a 20-year veteran of the business.

Smith said he had a customer service window placed low because when people bend over, he has found, they can’t spit as well.

He also tells his employees to treat everyone walking in the door like they’d want to be treated and, when possible, use humor.

"Patience is probably 99 percent of this business," he said. "Let’s face it: How many people drive by the tow yard and say, 'Let's stop by and say hello to the tow people'? It just doesn’t happen."