Towing company accused of holding truck held ‘hostage’ for $41,000

CHICAGO — A semi-truck driver overturned after hitting a viaduct near the intersection of 79th Street and Kedzie Avenue last Thursday morning. Soon after, an ambulance arrived, and so did a tow truck.

“They said, ‘We don’t give a price. We don’t know how much it will be, you need to contact our dispatch,’” said Steven Yonan, the driver of the towed semi-truck.

Yonan told WGN News he got a hold of his boss, who spoke with a man from Emergency Towing & Recovery over the phone.

“From what I understand they don’t even have tow trucks,” said Junior Smith of Cartage Experts, the company Yonan drives for. “They’re just guys who run around with police scanners, get on the scene, lock you down, then they start calling in people, like Official Towing was one of the trucks that showed up.”

Smith said he’s paid for tows like Yonan’s in the past, but he was never charged more than $10,000. The invoice for Yonan’s semi-truck, which Smith said features a forged signature, came out to more than a whopping $41,000.

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