Tacoma man hurt when trailer was towed away with him inside. Investigation drags
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Tacoma police and HEAL team towed RV with elderly man inside on March 7.
- City cites active investigation but withholds most related public records.
- Man was hospitalized after towing and was left unsheltered on the street.
In March, the Tacoma Police Department reported starting an investigation into a incident that left a man hospitalized after the trailer he was in was towed away at the direction of police. Months later, the department will not disclose what that investigation has found or if it has concluded.
The News Tribune has filed multiple public records requests with Tacoma police and the city since the incident. While police provided incident reports and basic information, the city has denied the newspaper’s request for records, saying the incident remains under investigation.
Why the trailer was towed
On March 7, Tacoma’s Homeless Engagement Alternative Liaison (HEAL) team and police towed an RV trailer not knowing there was a man inside.
According to a Tacoma Police Department incident report, the trailer was towed from the 5400 block of South Washington Street along with several other vehicles that authorities had identified as derelict.
“I knocked on the door multiple times and only heard a large breed dog barking on the inside. The trailer was covered in tarps and dilapidated with broken windows and makeshift locks on the doors. Along with the condition of the vehicle the registration had expired on 10/5/24,” officer Armando Farinas wrote in a police report. “Animal control responded to our location and impounded the abandoned dog. Gene’s Towing towed the trailer without incident.”
Jake Nau is outreach manager for St. Vincent De Paul’s Community Resource Center in South Tacoma. Nau told The News Tribune he and other outreach employees were notified that a man was in the trailer when clients who know the man ran into the Community Resource Center on March 7, “screaming” about how the city had towed away their friend.
Nau told The News Tribune outreach workers at the Community Resource Center were familiar with the person. He described him as a 79-year-old man who is not a fluent English speaker.
He said he and other outreach workers contacted the towing company to notify them of the man inside the impounded trailer.
Later that day, an employee of Gene’s Towing called police to report they had found a man inside an impounded vehicle who was “not in very good shape.”
The News Tribune received audio of the call through a public disclosure request.
In a recording of the call, the employee described the man as unable to get out of the trailer on his own, unable to speak and barely awake. He said police went in the trailer before it was impounded to remove a dog.
“We didn’t see him earlier. There was a dog in the motorhome, and we had to get the dog out. They took the dog to the pound, but obviously they missed him,” the employee said.
Nau told The News Tribune the man later was hospitalized at St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood. He said the man was living on the streets after his trailer was towed away.
The extent of the man’s injuries was not immediately available. In May, Nau told The News Tribune the man had been housed in an adult family home.
“Y’all cleared a site with no notice, no services and in the process towed away a trailer with a 79-year-old man still in the back of it, bouncing around and having (expletive) fall on him,” Nau wrote to Caleb Carbone, homeless strategy, systems and services manager for the city, in an email on March 13.
According to the city’s policy, people living at encampments scheduled for removal are given a minimum of 72 hours notice before the removal begins.
Maria Lee, spokesperson for the City of Tacoma, said removals of inhabited vehicles have their own guidelines. She said vehicles in violation of parking code are issued a ticket and given 24 hours to correct the violation before they can be ordered impounded by police.
“TPD is responsible for enforcement, including the authorization and execution of vehicle removals,” Lee wrote to The News Tribune in an email.
According to Lee, when police believe a vehicle is being used for habitation, officers work with the HEAL Team, which offers people access to services.
“The City received a complaint regarding this incident, and is taking this matter very seriously. A review of the details is already underway,” Maria Lee, a spokesperson for the City of Tacoma, told The News Tribune in an email on March 17.
TNT seeks more information on case
On April 8, The News Tribune filed a public records request with Tacoma police for documents and reports related to the incident. The newspaper also requested “any document, report, or internal communication” related to the incident from the City of Tacoma.
Police provided The News Tribune with incident reports, impound records and an audio recording of the Gene’s Towing employee reporting the incident. The city of Tacoma denied The News Tribune’s request for records.
“These records contain information regarding an active investigation the nondisclosure of which is essential to effective law enforcement, and have been redacted or withheld in their entirety,” the city’s public records center wrote to The News Tribune on May 2.
When The News Tribune asked which department was investigating the incident and the scope of the investigation on May 6, Lee said the investigation was occurring with Tacoma police.
In a May 6 email, police spokesperson Shelbie Boyd told The News Tribune the investigation began on March 17.
“TPD is still investigating this incident,” she wrote. “We don’t have more details to share at this time.”
On May 27, The News Tribune asked if the investigation was on-going or if it had been completed.
“I forwarded your request. I will let you know when I hear back,” Boyd responded the same day.
The department did not respond to several follow-up requests until nearly a month later.
“I am waiting for the IA Lieutenant to return from vacation for an answer,” Boyd told The News Tribune on June 28. “I forwarded to him last week.”
The department did not respond or offer further detail on the investigation before a July 10 deadline requested by The News Tribune.
