Tow Hearing Question

[superunloder]

Hi. Can anyone tell me if there are any circumstances under which a tow hearing officer can refuse to show me the towed/stored vehicle report he had in front of him at my tow hearing? He told me that I was only allowed to see it if I appealed his decision......which requires me to initiate a civil case and file a writ of mandate that costs like $700+ in court fees alone.
After the hearing I did a PRR for the report # that was submitted into case file and it turns out it was not a towed/stored vehicle report, and it was not related to me, or my car. The date was the only thing that was related to my case. It was for people that I have never heard of or had any association with, for felony weapons charges and parole violations that occurred in a different part of town, at a different time with different vehicles, and different officers. I would appreciate any input that anybody can offer. Thank You!

 

[bojangle]

If your question is, can the hearing officer refuse to show you the towing/stored vehicle report during a tow hearing, I don't have a solid answer for this. I would assume the hearing officer isn't required to show you the documents as maybe there vehicle owner, or driver, was listed as a suspect in the case. It's the typical procedure to decline releasing a report to a suspect. They'd have to get the report through discovery in the court process. A tow hearing is informal and not a court process. That could be why you were told you'd have to appeal and file a civil case in order to subpoena the documents.

But again, there could be something I'm not aware of, or unfamiliar with, here.

I'm not an attorney. I'm a LEO who doesn't have experience in holding towing hearings. The policy on towing hearings doesn't cover your question.