§ 54-213. Authority to remove, impound, or tow.

(a)

Grounds for removal, impound, or tow. Members of the police department, or any employee of the city, or other person designated by the chief of police, may remove, impound, or tow, or cause to be removed, impounded, or towed, a vehicle from any street, highway, right-of-way, or public way or place to the nearest place of safety or to an impound facility designated by the police department or the city when:

(1)

The vehicle is situated in such a manner that it obstructs the normal movement of traffic or creates a hazard to other traffic on a street, highway, or public way or place, and the person in charge of the vehicle is either not present or is unwilling or unable to provide for its immediate removal;

(2)

A member of the police department has probable cause to believe that the vehicle is an abandoned or inoperable vehicle, as defined in section 62-35 of this Code;

(3)

Removal of the vehicle is necessary in the interest of public health or safety because of fire, flood, snow or other storm, or other disaster or emergency, and the person in charge of the vehicle is either not present or is unwilling or unable to provide for its immediate removal;

(4)

A vehicle being driven on a street is so defective or is in such a condition so as to pose an articulable substantial hazard to an occupant or otherwise to public safety;

(5)

The driver of the vehicle is taken into custody by the police department;

(6)

A police officer has probable cause to believe that the driver of the vehicle is driving without an operator's or chauffeur's license that is current and valid, or does not have such license in his or her immediate possession, or is driving a vehicle contrary to any restriction imposed upon the license, or is driving while his or her operator's license has been denied, suspended, cancelled, or revoked;

(7)

A police officer has probable cause to believe that the person in charge of the vehicle is failing to display the proper license plate or license permit, is misusing a license plate or a license permit, or otherwise displaying or using a license plate or license permit in violation of any provision of C.R.S. tit. 42 or any other applicable provision related to vehicle licensing in Colorado, is failing to display a vehicle identification number, or is displaying an altered vehicle identification number;

(8)

A police officer has probable cause to believe that the vehicle is stolen, or parts thereof have been stolen, or that the vehicle contains evidence of a crime, stolen goods, contraband, or is evidence in a criminal investigation, or that the vehicle has been involved in a hit and run accident;

(9)

The vehicle upon a street, highway, or public way or place is so disabled as to constitute an obstruction to traffic, or the person in charge of the vehicle is, by reason of injury or other condition, incapacitated to such an extent as to be unable to provide for its custody or removal;

(10)

The vehicle is parked in any area designated by sign or other clearly visible marking as a fire lane or a fire access lane;

(11)

The vehicle is parked in violation of any traffic ordinance and limits or blocks ingress to or egress from a public or private driveway, and the person in charge of the vehicle is either not present or is unwilling or unable to provide for its immediate removal;

(12)

The vehicle is parked upon any street scheduled for or upon which cleaning, sweeping, repair, or maintenance operations are being conducted, if such street has been posted with an authorized sign temporarily prohibiting parking on such street during the operation, and the sign has been in place for no less than 24 hours prior to the start of the operation on that street;

(13)

A police officer has clear and convincing evidence that a vehicle for which a complying insurance policy or certificate of self-insurance is required is being operated on a street or highway without such policy or certificate. Failure to present immediate evidence of a complying policy or certificate shall not, by itself, constitute clear and convincing evidence of lack of a complying policy or certificate;

(14)

The vehicle is parked in any area designated by sign as a no parking or tow away zone, or where parking is otherwise prohibited, and the person in charge of the vehicle is either not present or is unwilling or unable to provide for its immediate removal;

(15)

A vehicle is parked or standing upon a street or other city-owned property that has been reserved for parking or other use during a special event, if such street or property has been posted with an authorized traffic control sign temporarily prohibiting parking, and if the traffic control sign has been in place for no less than 24 hours prior to the start of the special event or other use;

(16)

A vehicle is found to be standing or parked upon any portion of a street, highway, or public right of way, if there are three or more outstanding civil parking citations issued by the city involving such vehicle. For purposes of enforcement of this subsection, a civil parking citation shall be considered to be outstanding if such civil parking citation has remained unpaid for a period of time in excess of 21 days from the date of issuance of such citation; or

(17)

A police officer, or any employee of the city or other person designated by the chief of police to issue parking citations may authorize the tow or removal of a vehicle from a private parking lot that is either leased by the city for use as a private parking lot, or that is otherwise subject to a written agreement with the city that allows for the use of private property for public parking purposes, so long as the lease or other written agreement allows for such tows.

(b)

Miscellaneous.

(1)

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code to the contrary, subsections (a)(2) and (a)(3) above apply throughout this jurisdiction.

(2)

This article shall not apply to bicycles.

(3)

Nothing in this article shall be deemed or construed to restrict the authority of any peace officer under any other provisions of the law or authority to seize any vehicle or part thereof. Such provisions include, but are not limited to, seizure of a vehicle pursuant to a court order. The release of any vehicle or part thereof shall be governed by the provisions of the law or authority under which it was seized.

(c)

Costs. No vehicle towed to and stored in any lot maintained by a city-designated tow contractor pursuant to the provisions of this article shall be released therefrom until all unpaid civil penalties, administrative costs and fees, fines from the civil parking citations or summonses, and all costs for the towing to the lot and the storage have been paid. The costs for the towing and storage of any such vehicle shall be fixed by contract between the city and the city-designated tow contractor.

(1)

Exception: The owner of any vehicle seized and towed because it may have evidentiary value, or may contain evidence of criminal activity, shall not be liable for any towing or storage costs attributable solely to such seizure, but shall be liable for such costs to the extent attributable to any charge that arose concurrently with any other type of impound or tow.

( Ord. No. 4384, § 4, 4-15-2013 ; Ord. No. 4561, § 2, 8-29-2016 )