Are we entitled to impound lot money back?
 

Basically what happened is that one of my friends got charged driving while prohibited 3 times. 2 times he wasn't in the car. The third time he was in the passenger seat.

I was actually there for 2 of the times, he wasn't driving at all. When the cop searched him both times he didn't even have the keys on him since his brother was driving. They didn't believe him for some reason. The third time was when he was in the passenger seat (can't really say what happened cause I wasn't there)

He wasn't in the wrong - it's why it never held up in court.

All 3 charges were dropped because the cops were in the wrong.

I believe his car got impounded for 3 days, a week and a month. Total impound charges were around $1500 - $2000 total.

Is it possible for him to get the impound money back?

I understand if he got convicted he shouldn't be entitled to it. But since he basically got fucked over by the cops (Maybe they were having a bad day and took it out on him?) shouldn't he be able to get the money back?

Something tells me that theres more to the story. You can try to make the argument that a cop was having a bad day and took it out on him but 3 different cops in the 3 different situations...

And although i know the answer, i refuse to answer anything in the Police Forum that starts with "one of my friends"

Yeh....somebody who was not even in a car was charged with a non-VT offence? Yep, LOTS more to this story. This kind of charge requires a court appearance and lots of paperwork. You don't just sign and go, you are arrested and released for court. Positive Identification is required to serve you papers and release you....sorry....your friend.

First you say 2 times he wasn't in the car., then you say I was actually there for 2 of the times, he wasn't driving at all. So, anyone else see that we have a bit of a problem here? 3 charges in total? The math does not compute. You told us you were there for 2 of the 3 stops (the 3rd time was heresay) so that leaves 2 stops in which he wasn't there and wasn't driving...so how did the cop search him if he wasn't there? :suspicious:

Well first 2 charges never made it to court because of the cop being in the wrong. It's been over 3 years already. Only the 3rd made it to court and was dropped immediately by the prosecutor. He probably realized how dumb the cop was.

That being said, is it possible to get the impound money back? If so who to contact?

You guys can say it's me all you want, I don't care about online reputation or anything.

The facts of the story are that all 3 charges are out of the court system.

Police officers wasted his time and money. I think he deserves to have the impound money back at least.

That's why I'm asking.

Call the Police Det involved and ask them that question.

3 different cops, 3 different situations and all 3 had the same result.....sound to me like someone had some prior convictions or has done this many times before and cops don't believe the BS.
As for getting your friends money back.....good luck with that.
Car was in the lot, held for that time because your "friend" was clearly an idiot or you guys just found 3 really irritated cops that just had it out for your "friend".....next time yu guys go drinking, take a cab.

Credibility aside, this does seem to be a valid question.

For example, if you are wrongly convicted, the court usually orders a financial remuneration as an "apology".

If, similarly but on a smaller scale, you are financially inconvenienced due to an error of a PO, judicial system, etc, isn't there at least some process to reclaim the costs? I'm talking about direct costs - like towing fees, impound fees, etc, and not indirect things like time and opportunities lost, etc.

No criminal convictions. No criminal driving convictions. His record is as clean as can be. It's 2 cops. First 2 charges were the same cop. The third charge was a different cop.

Don't call my friend an idiot for being harassed by cops for no reason at all. You're the idiot that can't comprehend that in all 3 charges the cops were in the wrong.

Seriously all 3 charges are thrown out, they aren't in the court system anymore, you know why? Cause he was wrongfully accused and harassed.

Tried already, kept getting the run around. Already called 20 times in a span of 3 months

I think for small cases the courts don't give a fuck. They just drop the charges and leave it like that. It's up to the defendant to try to get his money back for impound with no lead at all.

I really wish the justice system was easier to manuever around. If a cop makes a mistake he should pay for it out of his own pocket. That's how it should be

To everyone that's coming in and calling my friend an idiot: just dont even post in this thread.

This thread is for people that got wrongfully accused and are trying to get their money back.

When the car was impounded, Police usually serve impound papers with information about who to contact if you dispute it etc. Why not contact the people listed on the forms?

i doubt you'll get your money back.


i suppose if you really feel that wronged then you could try small claims court.

First of all you don't get a Driving Prohibition for having a CLEAN RECORD!

Secondly, in order to be charged for DRIVING WHILE PROHIBITED YOU HAVE TO HAVE BEEN PROHIBITED.

Do you see where the problem to your story is now? If he had a good driving record there is no reason why he would have had his licence prohibited for X amount of time!

Are you sure you aren't mistaken his Charges for the Immediate Roadside Prohibition? You stated he received 3 7 and 30 day Impoundments. Sounds like he got a 3 day warn the first time. A 7 Day Warn a Second time.. And a third WARN to receive the third 30 days... Get your stories straight.

The Various Alcohol and Drug Related Prohibitions and Suspensions - Prohibitions and Suspensions - RoadSafetyBC

Do you even know what small claims court is? There are no "charges" in small claims court.. Small claims court is simply civil court.

Anyways, if what you are saying is true (which it isn't ) get your buddy to PM me. And I will talk to him about his perfect driving record prior to his false "charges".

Where did I state small claims court? I never once said that. I stated that for small cases like driving while prohibited. I never once said small claims court. You should learn how to read.

Do you want pictures of the impound fees?

I stated that he's never been CONVICTED of a driving charge or criminal charge. That's what I meant when I said he had a "clean record"

He lost his license once. The first 2 times he got charged his brother was driving his car. Like I said both times he wasn't even in the car at the time he was getting charged. The police officer ILLEGALLY searched him and still couldn't find his keys on him because he WASN'T driving. His brother had the keys.

He wouldn't allow my friend to call his brother down from the apartment he was in. He wouldn't allow me to record what was going on from my phone. He kept threatening us with charging us with "obstruction to justice" if we called his brother or recorded the incident. It was on a public road way. It's fucking sad when a police officer can abuse his power and not even let us have our rights.

Both times the police officer towed his car with the alarm going off because they never had the key. The police officer even told the tow truck driver to ILLEGALLY open his car. I started yelling at the tow truck driver that he can't do that. Then he stopped trying to open the car.

Luckily there was no damage to the car since the e-brake was intact. Good thing the tow driver knew what he was doing.

I even asked both times if the police officer SAW him driving. He responded with "no but I'm still going to charge his ass and impound his car".

Seriously you act like there's no cops out there that harass people for no reason.

Those disputes are along the lines of: if it's someone elses car and the driver was charged and impounded. That "someone else" can dispute it to get their car out early. Nothing about being wrongfully accused because you have to wait for court to come around first.

You can't dispute a impound for being wrongfully accused, you can check your impound papers. I'm 100% sure on that.

Can you guys get over the fact that he actually got wrongfully accused 3 times?

IF HE DIDN'T GET WRONGFULLY ACCUSED, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN CONVICTED 3 TIMES. <- Please get this through your head.

Not every police officer is meant for the job. Unfortunately he had bumped into 2 of them when he got charged 3 times.

Here are the facts. He got charged 3x. His car was impounded for 3 days, a week and a month. The charges never held up on court. It's been 3+ years.

Calling the RCMP doesn't go anywhere and they just give the run around. Calling the superintendent of motor vehicles lead to nowhere. They said they aren't responsible when it comes to impound fees.

So what I'm getting from this thread from what T4RAWR mentioned is that his only choice is to take the 2 police officers to small claims court to try to get his money back?

I find it pretty fucked up that a police officer can charge someone so quickly even if they are in the wrong. But when it comes to get the money back - not even the legal fees, just the impound fees, there's no way to get it back.

Honestly I posted this asking for help and it seems like the only person that's trying to help is zulutango and I thank you for that.

Spidey is acting like a baboon. Get over yourself Spidey. Not everyone cop knows how to do his job properly. It's pretty fucking clear that these 2 cops didn't know how to do their jobs or else they wouldn't have charged him.

If you think what I'm saying isn't true. Then he would have been convicted for driving while prohibited 3x. He wasn't convicted once. All 3 cases are long gone out of the courts.

Before you come here and YELL AT THE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND OTHER ASSORTED LEGAL PROFESSIONALS in here you should probably realize that a lack of conviction does not necessarily mean that he was wrongfully accused. There are unfortunately many cases of crimes that are committed and even if charges are laid there is no corresponding conviction. Perhaps there were errors on the part of the RCMP but to look at this from an impartial third perspective for two different officers to have run-ins with your friend I tend to think that there is more to the story and there was valid probable cause to suspect your friend was driving.

I hope you can understand that it's hard for me and likely everyone else here to take your story at face value when you throw around legal sounding statements when practical contradictions exist in your posts like:

There is more to this story than what we've read so far and like almost all posts in this forum that start with a bunch of defences of how someone is innocent, I find it hard to imagine that you're going to find a satisfactory answer here since statements like "Only the 3rd made it to court and was dropped immediately by the prosecutor. He probably realized how dumb the cop was." show that you have either too minimal of an understanding of our legal system or an anti-law enforcement bias that we won't be able to overcome.

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He lost his license once. The first 2 times he got charged his brother was driving his car. Like I said both times he wasn't even in the car at the time he was getting charged. The police officer ILLEGALLY searched him and still couldn't find his keys on him because he WASN'T driving. His brother had the keys.


If he was being arrested for prohibited driving then Police can search incidental to arrest. If he's going into my PC while I do the paperwork, then he is being searched and if keys are found, they can be seized as it is evidence of care and control. BTW, What about what I asked you in post #3?

He wouldn't allow my friend to call his brother down from the apartment he was in.

Why should they? They were dealing with the person they were charging with an offence. The brother had no legal reason to be involved.



The police officer even told the tow truck driver to ILLEGALLY open his car.

What law makes this action illegal? The vehicle was being impounded and it required it to be towed. Police usually search a car to make legal note of the contents so that nothing can later be reported as "missing" after it is impounded. This is called "making an inventory" of the contents. I always personally searched every vehicle I ever impounded.

Would you rather they dragged it with the ebrake on...and, BTW, who are you to demand this..it's not YOUR car?


I even asked both times if the police officer SAW him driving. He responded with "no but I'm still going to charge his ass and impound his car".



Police don't have to answer your questions. They are dealing with your friend. Who do you think you are and what authority do you have to demand this? Are you his legal council?

Wait, how was his brother driving if he was in an apartment?

So by that logic, when you make a mistake at work that costs the company money, you should have it deducted from your pay. Seems legit.

His brother was upstairs at his cousins house. His brother drove there and he was in the passenger on the way there.

I told him to come down for a smoke and we were just sitting on the hood of the car chatting and smoking cigarettes.

The second time we were on the corner and the same cop pulled up and did the same bullshit again.

And for the second part: for my logic if someone stole $500 out of a cash till they should be held accountable and pay it back.

So you're basically saying its okay to arrest someone for a crime they didn't commit. Then it's okay to search their car and open without the keys. Then it's not okay to call the brother down to hand over the keys so they don't have to break open the car and further damage it.

I understand the legality if he did commit the crime but he didn't. I'm actually quite shocked all those things are legal even if someone didn't commit a crime.

If you guys really think the cops were right. Why did all 3 charges get dropped?

Why wasn't I allowed to record it on my phone? Why is it obstruction to justice to record the incident?

I'm basically getting the hint that he's not gonna get the money back.

It's a great world we live in that a police officer can charge anyone for anything even if they're in the wrong. They can waste people's time and money and get away with it.

I asked the cop a question because I was curious. He admitted that he didn't even see my friend driving. There's no grounds to charge someone for a crime.

And no I'm not his legal council. My friend lost his parents at a young age. Even though we're not related I'm the only family he has. So I thought I'd try to help him see if he can get the impound money back. We're close like that we try to help each other out with everything.


Look I wouldn't ask if he commited a crime. He didn't commit anything. I was there twice to witness it. I know what driving while prohibited is and he didn't do that at all.