Imagine: Your car gets stolen, but instead of the police bringing it back to you, you get charged hundreds for its return. This is what happened to one driver, but her local police admit it shouldn’t have.

Towing trouble in Nebraska

Recently, a Nebraska woman had her car stolen by five teenagers. When the Sheriff’s Department caught these scofflaws bombing down I-80 at 100+ mph, it used spike strips to end the joyride. The youths faced charges at a detention center while the police had the damaged car towed. If the owner had wanted it back, she couldn’t have gotten it. Why? As evidence, it was on an “investigative hold” for at least two days.

Finally, the towing company contacted the owner to say she could have her car back. There was only one catch: her bill to get the car released dad climbed to $300. This included storage fees while it was being held on the tow company’s lot for potential police investigation.

One Sheriff Department’s procedure

Local4 News reached out to Capt. Josh Gillespie with the York County Sheriff’s Department. He felt the fees were a mistake. “We would cover that invoice.”

So would the storage fees fall on the taxpayers? Gillespie said that depends. The fees, “if ordered by a judge, would be covered by the perpetrators.”

The owner also wasn’t on the hook for the blown tires. Gillespie added, “If stuff is damaged…as a result of the actual pursuit itself, then, at times, the county can be held responsible for certain things,” Gillespie said. “The perpetrators are the ones that are ultimately responsible for the damage in and of itself, but it’s a process to get it there.”

Gillespie explained that the agency that originally had the vehicle towed — in this case, the Sheriff’s Department — should have reached out to the victim to outline the process for being reimbursed.

He added, “We want to make sure that we’re trying to help these people because they had a vehicle that was stolen, obviously not their fault.” The captain concluded that the goal is, “to try to not make a victim a victim twice.”

Obviously, this is just the process for one Sheriff’s Department in Nebraska. If your car gets stolen, you should research your unique local laws.