A 37-year-old resident of Allen O’Neill Drive tried to prevent a tow truck driver from towing away a car on July 31 and was arrested for breach of peace, Darien police said.
Police gave this account (an accusation not proven in court):
At 1:52 p.m., police received a call from someone telling them a fight was in progress on the street. No one was charged with actually fighting, but the confrontation was physical.
A tow truck driver had been called by management at the Heights affordable housing project to remove an unregistered vehicle that had been parked there. The vehicle belonged to a friend of the girlfriend of Carlos Torres of 14 Allen O’Neill Dr.
In order to stop the 2000 Mitsubishi Gallant from being towed, Torres stood between the car and the tow truck, yelling at the truck operator. Torres told police the bed of the truck nearly hit him at one point, then the tow operator got out of his vehicle and struck him in the face.
The tow truck operator said he was confronted by Torres and his girlfriend, and that Torres had tried to remove the tow hook from the vehicle, was unsuccessful, then tried to pull hydraulic lines from underneath the truck. Torres also tried to get into a tool box on the side of the truck, which made the operator concerned, because he didn’t want Torres using any of the tools to attack him.
The truck driver said he confronted Torres to stop him from taking any of the tools, but never struck him. Police observed grease on Torres’ hands and some grease on the truck driver’s face.
Someone at the housing complex showed police a video taken from a mobile phone that indicated Torres was the aggressor, as did statements from witnesses who were not involved in the incident.
Torres was released on a promise to appear Monday, Aug. 10 in state Superior Court in Stamford.