John Jefferson
Trinity Towing (KSAT)
Police in Texas are investigating how a 5-year-old girl sleeping in a car got pulled away in a tow truck while her mother was nearby talking to a neighbor.
According to the San Antonio Police Department, an emergency call about a missing endangered child came in at around 11 a.m. on Monday. Responding officers spoke to a woman who said a tow truck had towed her vehicle away with her 5-year-old daughter in the car.
“The mother stated to police that she parked her vehicle and left it running with the flashers on while she got out of the car to attempt to contact a neighbor in another apartment,” police said in a statement emailed to Law&Crime. “The mother stated that she was in eyesight of her daughter and never lost contact with her.”
According to police, the girl’s mother — who is not identified in the statement — was waiting at the apartment door when “the tow truck swooped in and picked up the mother’s vehicle without properly setting it in with chains and [brake] lights and took off.”
A witness, who is not identified in the police statement, left with the mother, who is nine months pregnant. The woman had a “medical emergency and had to pull over,” the police statement says.
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The towing company was contacted “after a short while,” and the towing company said the child was at its location, along with the driver.
“The mother was reunited with the victim who was unharmed,” police said.
The driver, who police refer to only as “the suspect,” left the scene without talking to police, the statement said.
“The suspect is not charged with anything at this time but is being investigated for Endangering a Child,” police said, adding that the investigation is still active.
Local CBS affiliate KENS identified the towing company as Trinity Towing and Gilbert Ramirez as a good Samaritan who helped the mother chase after the tow truck.
“[T]here were no signs of anyone inside or around the vehicle,” the towing company said in a statement reported by KENS.
“We later learned a little girl was asleep on the floorboard when we first towed the vehicle and was not visible to the driver,” the statement added. The car was at the tow yard for “a few minutes” before the child was discovered inside.
Ramirez said he was leaving his apartment when he saw the mother screaming for her child as the tow truck pulled out of the parking lot. He said he jumped into action immediately.
“I said, ‘Well, get in the car and let’s chase it,’ but it was too fast, so I pulled over,” he said, according to KENS. “I didn’t know where it was going.”
Ramirez says he’s the one who called police.
“I would not want that to happen to my daughter … or anyone’s daughter,” Ramirez said, according to the station.
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