So, I had a problem this weekend. Let me paint a scenario for you: You own a boat and its on a trailer parked in your back yard. Its been back there for a year or two and it has a bunch of leaves and debris on it. You move it from your back yard to your front yard because your hose is on the front of the house and you intend to wash it off and clean it up to get ready to sell it. Your neighbor sees this boat in your front yard that hes never seen before. He calls the cops because it looks suspicious. The police show up to your house while you are at work, do the appropriate police work to determine that the boat does in fact belong to you. They see tracks in the yard that shows the boat and trailer were recently moved from the back of the house to the front of the house. They try to contact you at work but you dont answer your phone. There is no evidence that this boat has been moved illegally, there is no evidence someone is trying to steal your boat. This boat is on your property and it belongs to you. They have your boat and trailer towed. This, in essence, is exactly what happened to me. I have been storing, for 7 years, my vehicle in my parents barn on their property on Rt 292 in Pawling. In the last couple years the barn has deteriorated and the roof of the barn had collapsed on the Jeep. On Saturday afternoon I pulled my vehicle out of the barn and left it off the shoulder of the road on my parents property. The tires were flat, and there was debris on the vehicle from the collapsed roof. My intention was to go back within the next few days, put it on a trailer and bring it to the scrap yard. On Sunday morning Dutchess County Sheriffs Department received a call for a possible accident. Someone had thought that the Jeep had crashed into the barn and been left there. When the Sheriffs deputy arrived he determined, correctly, that the Jeep had not struck the barn, but instead had been pulled out of the barn. The deputy ran the VIN and determined that the vehicle owner and property owner were related (same last name, live on same street). They called my cell phone once and I didnt answer (I was driving) and they also called my parents house once (they didnt answer because they always let to go to the answering machine to see who it is first). They did not leave a message at either number. At this point they TOWED THE CAR! Their justification you ask? they werent sure if there was any criminal activity going on. In other words they thought that maybe someone was trying to steal it, so they towed it to prevent that from happening. In other words: They came onto my parents property, and towed my vehicle off of it because they didnt have the foggiest idea of what was going on. This left me with $175 tow bill and obviously a lot of frustration and aggravation. TL;DR: My vehicle was towed off of my parents property and I was stuck with a $175 tow bill for doing absolutely nothing wrong. I blame improper procedure by the Dutchess County Sheriffs Department. We are to look upon it as more beneficial, that many guilty persons should escape unpunished, than one innocent person should suffer. The reason is, because it’s of more importance to community, that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt should be punished; for guilt and crimes are so frequent in the world, that all of them cannot be punished; and many times they happen in such a manner, that it is not of much consequence to the public, whether they are punished or not. But when innocence itself, is brought to the bar and condemned, especially to die, the subject will exclaim, it is immaterial to me, whether I behave well or ill; for virtue itself, is no security. And if such a sentiment as this, should take place in the mind of the subject, there would be an end to all security what so ever. - John Adams
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 17:24:46 +0000