Man Arrested For Trying To Drive Off While Hooked Up To Tow Truck
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A man is facing serious charges after police said he tried to break his truck free from a tow truck's hook.
Police said it happened Thursday afternoon and it was caught on camera.
Video taken by the tow truck driver shows the moments an angry owner jumps in his truck and tries taking off while hooked up.
Police said 31-year-old Yohanys Lopez began tailing a tow truck driver who'd just towed his white Ford F-250 from Black Point Marina.
Lopez wasn't making good on his payments, according to authorities.
Owners of Specialized Towing say their driver was forced to stop at Southwest 230th Street and US 1.
"The owner must've realized that he had an opportunity to hop in so he hopped into the car at which time our agent gets out of the truck approaches him and he acts like he's not going to do anything," said Rigo Herrera from Specialized Towing.
The police report says Lopez asked if he could retrieve some of his belongings before it was towed. He then got in his truck started it and tried taking off.
The video shows the tow truck tipping backward and Lopez getting nowhere fast.
Police arrested him nearby minutes later.
"It's in our best interest to avoid something like this," Herrera said.
23 years in the business in multiple locations, the Herrera brothers have seen it all.
Letting down their guard is not an option.
"The whole concept of oh they're jerks, they just drive off on us it's for reason it's for on safety no one knows we don't know like I said especially looking at this video how someone's going to react, we don't know," said Herrera.
Their driver who got safely out of the car and took that recording is doing fine. Lopez, however, is facing grand theft and criminal mischief charges.
"Things like this happen that just don't happen all the time and definitely not to that extreme," said the tow truck operator.