Brickbat: Above the Law

For over two weeks, Jose Rodriguez's tow truck has had a boot on it, costing him thousands of dollars. His troubles started when he tasked with repossessing a Nissan Maxima whose owner was behind on payments. The owner of Nissan was a New York City Police Department detective. When Rodriguez tried to repossess the car, cops arrested him on a felony charge of possessing stolen property. They later dropped that charge—after Rodriguez spent 20 hours in jail—but then charged him with falsifying documents and possessing a police scanner, charges he denies. The cops also still have his phone, laptop and other electronics they seized from him.