Question: We recently visited our son at his condo in Salt Lake and parked in one of six stalls reserved for visitors. When we came down an hour later, we were surprised to see our car hooked to a tow truck. We asked the driver to unhook our car and we would pay the charges, but he said no, that we had to pick it up at Sand Island. We asked who called for our car to be towed, and he said the guy that owns the parking space. There is nothing on that stall indicating it is reserved. We were charged $152.50 to get our car back. Can you point us in the right direction to deal with this? We feel we were robbed blind and think this towing company is doing this to a lot of people and getting away with it.
Answer: After reading your account of the towing, the state Office of Consumer Protection says it appears that Section 290-11 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes "may have been violated." It advises you to file a complaint by going to its website, www.hawaii.gov/dcca/ocp/consumer_complaint, or by calling 587-3222.
Under HRS 290-11(b)(1), a key provision says, "If the vehicle is in the process of being hooked up or is hooked up to the tow truck and the owner appears on the scene, the towing company shall unhook the vehicle and shall not charge any fee to the owner of the vehicle."
The law applies to vehicles left either on private or public property.
Question: I was outraged to read "close to 30 motorcycle officers escorted the ambulance to Queen’s" in the Nov. 14 Star-Advertiser about an injured police officer. Weren’t they working — staffing a security post for APEC? If so, can they just pick up and go?
Answer: Thirty motorcycle officers did NOT escort the officer, who was shocked after leaning against an illuminated railing on the H-1 near Honolulu Airport. He was staffing a security post as part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings.
"According to the supervisor who was on duty, a squad of six motorcycle officers responded to the scene, and the same six officers escorted the ambulance to the hospital," said Maj. Kurt Kendro, commander of HPD’s Traffic Division. "The escorts were needed to move them through the heavy traffic caused by road closures set up for the Russian presidential motorcade."
After the Russian president arrived at the airport, the motorcade assignment was completed. At that point, Kendro said, the supervisor called all of the motorcycle officers to the Queen’s Medical Center for an end-of-shift briefing.
"This is probably what the (Star-Advertiser) writer saw," he said.
The meeting was held at the hospital because it was on the way back to HPD’s Alapai Street headquarters and because six officers were already there, he said.
Meanwhile, the injured officer is continuing to recover and has not returned to work.
MAHALO
To two guys who stopped and stayed with me until emergency workers arrived after I went down on my motorcycle on Makakilo Drive on Friday morning, Nov. 18. They made sure I didn’t move and helped to get my bike out of the road. Mahalo nui loa also to the EMT on the opposite side of the road who was headed home but stopped to assist. Without people like these, Hawaii would be just another state in the Union. — Ormand D. "Dan" James Jr.
AUWE
To the person complaining about the police officer speeding down Manoa Road ("Kokua Line," Nov. 9). You should have first found out why or what he was responding to. If your life was in peril, would you want the police to drive at a normal speed and respond late? People complain when emergency response is slow and complain when they speed in responding. Police receive driver training for rapid response. We should be grateful for their quick response. — Concerned Citizen
Write to "Kokua Line" at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
