(The Center Square) – Tows of vehicles and charging up to $4,400 for release during the COVID-19 era where the owner and company are accused of overly seeking out Black drivers has been adjudicated in a consent judgment with the North Carolina attorney general.
A1 Towing Solutions and Automobile Recovery and Parking Enforcement and David Jewel Satterfield, the defendants, will collectively pay $30,000 to the vehicle owners and are at risk of a $110,000 fine. First-term Attorney General Jeff Jackson, a former member of Congress, says the case of “racially targeting drivers, illegally booting and towing their vehicles, and price gouging” sets a precedent.
“We had evidence that the defendant broke price gouging laws and engaged in racially targeted towing” Jackson said. “This judgment will force him to pay back the victims, and it will set a clear precedent: If you run a towing company that breaks that law, we are going to take you to court, and we’re going to stop you.”
The Department of Justice under the direction of then-Attorney General Josh Stein, now governor, sued Satterfield in 2020. The state’s top prosecutor said trucks delivering food, water and medical supplies during the pandemic were unlawfully targeted.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police records indicate, Jackson’s office said, “that Satterfield towed vehicles owned by African Americans at an alarmingly high rate and almost exclusively operated in areas of Charlotte that have a majority African American population.”
