In Menlo Park, Many Lose Cars After Driving with Suspended License - KQED
Rene Macedo Nolasco, a night shift worker, was driving home late at night on May 2 from his job at the Tesla Motors plant in Fremont when he noticed flashing lights in his rearview mirror. Twenty minutes later, a Menlo Park police officer had cited him for driving with a revoked license, a misdemeanor. Macedo Nolasco could have reclaimed his car in 30 days — if he’d had the money to cover the $60 to $80 daily tow yard storage charges, plus other fees. “I’m not going to get it out from the impound lot because it’s too much money,” said Macedo Nolasco, 27, a father of two. Menlo Park police citations and vehicle impounds for driving with a suspended license nearly tripled from 2008 to 2014, making this misdemeanor the top crime in the city, according to a Peninsula Press analysis of data from the Police Department. But police data also show that seven out of 10 drivers cited for a suspended license over a four-month time period were Latino or African-American. Drivers who have been cited say the rules and police attention make their lives harder and are unfairly resulting in stops and citations against Latinos and African-Americans. Source: ww2.kqed.org
