(a) Police officers are authorized to remove from the streets, sidewalks or public grounds and impound:
(1) Any motor vehicle or other vehicle which is parked, left standing or abandoned in violation of any of the ordinances of the City;
(2) Any vehicle which fails to comply with the provisions of any City ordinance;
(3) Any vehicle for which two or more citation tags for violations of any City ordinance have been issued, which tags have not been responded to by the owner or operator of such vehicle;
(4) When any vehicle which has been stolen, or from which the driver or operator has been removed due to illness, injury or intoxication;
(5) Any vehicle which is wrecked or so disabled that it is not capable of being operated;
(6) Any vehicle operated by any person who has failed to stop in case of an accident;
(7) Any vehicle operated by any person while engaged in, or connected with, the commission of a felony;
(8) Any vehicle operated by a person without an operator’s license, or during a period of revocation or suspension of such license;
(9) Any vehicle operated by a person who refuses to obey the instructions of any police officer after such person has been placed under arrest; or
(10) Any vehicle operated by any person who is arrested for reckless operation.
(b) The removal and storage of a vehicle impounded, and the payment of the expense of removal and storage of a vehicle so impounded, shall not release the owner, chauffeur, driver or other person in charge of such vehicle from penalties imposed for a violation of any City ordinance or any statute, rule or regulation relating to traffic.
(c) The removal by a police officer, or by order of a police officer, of a vehicle for any of the reasons mentioned in subsection (a) hereof shall be at the risk of the owner or person in charge thereof and there shall be no liability on the part of the City for any damage caused by such removal. The storage of any vehicle when impounded by the City shall be at the risk of the chauffeur, driver or owner thereof, and the City shall not be liable for damage of any nature or the theft or destruction by fire of any vehicle so impounded.
(d) The expense of removal, conveyance or towing of such vehicle, and the expense of storage thereof when removed to any impounding place designated by the Mayor, shall be borne by the owner, chauffeur, driver or other person in charge thereof and shall be paid before the vehicle is released.
(e) If, at the expiration of twelve hours after any vehicle has been impounded, the owner, chauffeur, driver or other person in charge thereof has not presented himself at the automobile and vehicle pound to claim the vehicle, it shall be the duty of the officer who authorized such impounding to notify in writing the owner, chauffeur, driver or other person in charge of the same, at his last known place of residence, informing him of the nature and circumstances of the violation on account of which such vehicle has been impounded, and also the amount of charges for redelivery. When the owner, chauffeur, driver or other person in charge of the vehicle impounded presents himself at the automobile and vehicle pound to claim his vehicle, he shall furnish satisfactory proof of his right and title thereto to the officer in charge. (Ord. 19-69. Passed 7-8-69.)
(f) No vehicle impounded under the provisions of this section shall be removed from such pound except upon the payment by the owner, chauffeur, driver or other person in charge of such vehicle, of service and impounding charges and a storage charge not to exceed three dollars ($3.00) per day for each twenty-four hours or fraction thereof. The accumulated maximum storage charge to be collected on any motor vehicle or other vehicle shall not exceed two hundred dollars ($200.00). (Ord. 59-78. Passed 11-28-78.)