ORLANDO, Fla — “It was being towed, that’s what it was. It wasn’t stolen,” said an Orlando police officer to John Quillinan during an incident in downtown Orlando in September. That video and sound were captured on a police department body camera after John’s wife, Kim Quillinan called 911 to report their car stolen.
John said, “Well, it was stolen by taking the car.”
The officer responded, “You’re not understanding.”
City of Orlando surveillance video, obtained later, appears to show a tow truck taking their car away from a private parking lot before time expired even though the Quillinans paid to park.
Before that surveillance video surfaced, police said they didn’t have sufficient evidence to show a crime was committed and called it a civil matter, but they encouraged the car owners to report it if they had additional information or evidence.
After our story aired with that video in December, the car owners filed a police report, but said officers didn’t seem to want to consider any new evidence.
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During the police response, John Quillinan sounded exasperated when he said, “And they took off with a car and wouldn’t stop. Our car!”
The Lake County couple had just returned to their car after enjoying a Tate McRae concert at the Kia Center. They even left the show early, knowing they paid to park until 10pm at a private lot at Garland and Livingston. Panic set in as they approached and saw their car already on the back of a tow truck from NRJ Towing pulling out of the lot.
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From the City of Orlando surveillance video, it appears the truck ran a red light, and a few moments later, it shows John Quillinan trying to chase it down. With the truck in the intersection, the timestamp on the video shows 21:56:30 which is just after 9:56pm, nearly four minutes before their ticket was supposed to expire.
According to WFTV Legal Analyst Bill Sheaffer if it was taken before time expired, John Quillinan was right when he told the officer, “Well, it was stolen by taking the car.”
Sheaffer said back in December, “A towing company that tows before they are lawfully entitled to may be charged with a misdemeanor, criminally, up to a third-degree felony.”
Under Florida law, by depriving someone of their property even temporarily is considered theft.
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NRJ Towing didn’t want to seem to address it with Action 9 when they called, emailed and stopped by their impound lot locations.
One worker shoved the Action 9 photographer.
“Outta my way,” he said.
Jeff Deal said, “Hey, do not touch him.”
The NRJ Towing worker said, “I don’t give a (expletive).
He then slapped the microphone out of Deal’s hand and onto the ground.
Jeff Deal again said, “Do not touch him.”
The worker responded, “Get the (expletive) outta my way is what you gotta do mother(expletive).
Back then the Orlando Police Department issued this statement:
During the officers’ initial contact, there was not sufficient evidence to determine that a crime had occurred. If the caller now has additional information or evidence, we encourage them to contact us and report it.
So, Kim Quillinan followed up and went to OPD headquarters to file a report.
She told Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal, “I felt like they were trying to talk me out of even filling out a police report.”
Jeff Deal asked, “Did they even want to look at the new evidence at all?”
Kim Quillinan answered, “I don’t think they did. Yeah, I don’t think they did.”
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The report reads like an informational report, it doesn’t list any suspects, and shows the officer advised Quillinan that she could seek representation for a civil suit.
An OPD spokesman said because the parking lot owner reimbursed them for the cost of the tow, after Action 9 got involved, they consider it a civil matter. But Bill Sheaffer said the reimbursement payment has nothing to do with whether the tow truck driver committed a crime.
“The minute you temporarily deprive someone of their property, you have committed the offense of theft,” Sheaffer said.
And Kim Quillinan believes with the video evidence; it should be investigated as crime.
She said, “It was traumatic to come out and have my car gone and I just, you know, it shouldn’t happen to other people. And you know, what’s going to stop them from doing it again, you know?”
With tow truck drivers or their companies required to call in their tows from private lots, police may already have a record of who was driving that tow truck.
Legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said often police push these kinds of cases off to civil courts, likely because they feel they can better spend their resources on other types of crimes.