Florida Man Catches Felony Charge For Towing Car With Child Inside, Dumping Child Onto Road

Towing companies can typically get away with a lot, even if they occasionally try to tow some cars they aren’t supposed to. Sometimes, breaking the law does eventually come back to bite them, but it usually takes a while for that to happen. Although, apparently, even the state of Florida draws a line at towing a vehicle with a child inside, especially if the child then falls out of the car and lands in the road. In fact, as one Florida tow truck driver recently found out, that’s enough to get you arrested, as ABC News reports. 

The incident in question took place last Sunday, when tow truck driver Sergio Suarez showed up at Sunrise, Florida’s Bistro Creole restaurant to tow a parked car. After hooking the car up to his truck, he started to drive away without realizing there was a four-year-old girl still inside. Her father told police he was inside the restaurant when Suarez began to tow his car away and ran out as soon as he realized what was happening. Unfortunately for him, Suarez ignored the man yelling and banging on his window, allegedly writing him off as a possibly violent man who was simply angry his car was being towed. 

One witness told 7News Miami, “The [tow truck] driver is speeding, and the dad is behind, screaming, ‘My daughter is in the car, my daughter is in the car, my daughter is inside,’ and he didn’t stop.” So it’s not like he didn’t at least attempt to communicate the issue.

Driving off with a child in the car you’re towing is already bad enough, but when the tow truck got back on the road, things somehow got worse. Because, according to 7News Miami, “the child in the vehicle then jumped out of the vehicle in the middle of the road.” That usually isn’t the best idea, but remember, we’re talking about a four-year-old girl here. One sitting in a car that’s being taken, while she watches her dad run after her. It might not have been safe, but it at least makes sense. 

Thankfully, ABC News reports she only suffered “superficial injuries” to her arms and one leg. She was taken to the hospital for treatment but is expected to be okay, at least medically. Getting over the whole “some guy kidnapped me” thing, on the other hand, will probably take a whole lot of therapy. 

Suarez did eventually return to the restaurant with the car after the cops called his boss on him, and once he got back, he was arrested. He eventually admitted he hadn’t checked the car for occupants before towing it and that “he received multiple phone calls” from his company telling him there was a child inside, but when he stopped to check, he didn’t see her. You know, because she’d already fallen out of the vehicle he was towing. 

In the police report, the cops said his alleged actions “constituted culpable negligence and demonstrated a reckless disregard for the safety of a minor, directly resulting in injury to the child,” and Suarez has since been charged with child neglect without great bodily harm, a third-degree felony.

Regardless of how a car is parked, how long it’s been there, or who called to have it towed, tow truck operators have an obligation to check to make sure they aren’t kidnapping anyone before they drive off. Heck, even if it’s not a legal obligation, it’s at least an ethical one. Kidnapping people is wrong, even if we’re talking about a kid whose dad parked illegally. So the details of why the car got towed in the first place don’t really matter. 

That said, according to court documents reviewed by 7News Miami, the father in question had only been parked for about two minutes when Suarez showed up to tow his car. According to another witness they spoke to, other customers have had similar issues with their cars getting towed at that restaurant. 

“So many people have experienced the same thing out there; they have a huge problem with it,” she told the news channel. “And I ran out and said, ‘Hey, I’m right here,’ you know, so they just do a partial hookup to get it far away from you, and you’re pretty much running down the street.” She also added, “At this point, I was seven months pregnant, right, and that did not stop him from taking the car. It was really sad. I mean, I’m surprised because they’re very ruthless out there. They don’t care if there’s a child out there, if you’re seven months pregnant, they’ll take your car.”