Richmond police chief apologizes for car damaged in wrongful tow

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards apologized for a mistake his department made when it tied the wrong car to a shooting and had it towed. The car was damaged during the tow.

Edwards said that, based on what police knew at the time, he thinks it was appropriate to tow the vehicle.

He also said he wants to personally apologize for what happened while defending the license plate readers that led police to the car.

On Your Side investigators first reported the story last week.

Franklin White spoke with Rosalyn Crump, whose Hyundai Elantra was towed after police thought it was involved in a double shooting. Crump said the car was incorrectly towed and ruined.

“This is scary to me. I ain’t never been through nothing like this,” Crump said.

Edwards said license plate readers led officers to Crump’s car. He said towing the car is pretty standard.

“We felt we had enough probable cause to search that vehicle for evidence,” Edwards said.

Officers later determined Crump’s car was not the one involved in the shooting. The incident happened in the summer.

“As we continued our investigation, we learned that there was another identical make and model, very similar color car that was when we saw video of the actual shooting itself. Some of the cameras were offline initially,” Edwards said.

Edwards said the car involved in the shooting was a different color and year than Crump’s car.

Edwards apologized for Crump learning that her car was damaged during the tow.

“I’d like to take the opportunity today to apologize for her learning that the car was pretty seriously damaged during the tow. I think Seiberts has admitted that. They’ve tried to work with her,” Edwards said.

The situation comes as Flock cameras continue to be under scrutiny. Richmond’s mayor has said the city will not renew its contract with Flock when it is up in June.

Edwards said Crump did nothing wrong.

“Ms. Crump did nothing wrong and it’s very unfortunate what happened in this incident. And I don’t think it’s appropriate to blame Flock per se,” Edwards said.

Edwards credits the cameras with helping solve other cases in the city. He said it is unclear what will replace them.

“If we lose it, we policed before ALPR, we will police afterwards, we’ll do our level best,” Edwards said.

Edwards said again that the department could use another company, not Flock, and still have license plate readers.

He said police would then look into adding more guardrails.

It is unclear whether that would have prevented Crump’s situation.