Cars Towed, Scrapped In Wilmington Leads To Federal Lawsuit
WILMINGTON, Del. (CBS) -- A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday is taking on the city of Wilmington over what they're calling "an impound racket" that ends with people's ticketed cars in the scrap yard.
Resident Ameera Shaheed said Wilmington ticketed her legally parked car six times over a nine-day period. She wanted to appeal those tickets.
"Over and over again, I came to the city building to contest the tickets, to fight the tickets. They did nothing," she told CBS3.
It took nearly four months to get her a court hearing -- but by then, it was too late.
"My car was already scrapped," she said.
Her attorney, William Aronin, said First State Towing scrapped her car. He is angry at how the city has handled the whole situation.
"All of this is outrageous, but what's even more outrageous is the city did not even credit the value of that car towards her parking tickets," he said. "So even today the city is still coming after her for the same thing."
Earl Dickerson is also in the dark about the scenario; his own car was ticketed and then towed after a month.
"I am still confused why this happened in the beginning," he said, adding his car was scrapped by City Towing Services.
It's had a huge impact on his life.
"It was my only means of transportation. And it was the center of my family. And they took that away. And they took part of me away." Dickerson said.
When asked about the situation, City Towing Services told Eyewitness News it's all about the law.
"We follow everything by the rules, by the law," Ron Bennett said. "If people's cars are towed, then that's something they can take up with the city."
Aronin filed the lawsuit against the city of Wilmington, City Towing Services, and First State Towing. The city and First State Towing had no comment.