(a) Police officers authorized to provide for the removal and impounding of a vehicle under the following circumstances:
(1) When any vehicle is left unattended upon any street, bridge or causeway and is so illegally parked so as to constitute a hazard or unreasonably interfere with street cleaning or snow removal operations;
(2) When any motor vehicle, other than an abandoned junk motor vehicle, as defined in Ohio R.C. 4513.63, is left on private residential property, as defined in Section 303.081, or on private agricultural property, for at least four consecutive hours without the permission of the person having the right to the possession of the property, or on a public street or other property open to the public for purposes of vehicular travel, or upon or within the right of way of any road or highway, for forty-eight consecutive hours or longer, without notification to the Police Chief of the reasons for leaving such vehicle in such place;
(3) When any abandoned junk motor vehicle is left on private property for more than seventy-two consecutive hours without the permission of the person having the right to the possession of the property, or on a public street or other property open to the public for purposes of vehicular travel or parking, or upon or within the right of way of any road or highway, for forty-eight consecutive hours or longer, without notification to the Police Chief of the reasons for leaving such vehicle in such place;
(4) When any vehicle has been stolen or operated without the consent of the owner;
(5) When any vehicle displays illegal license plates or fails to display the current lawfully required license plates;
(6) When any vehicle has been used in or connected with the commission of a felony;
(7) When any vehicle has been damaged or wrecked so as to be inoperable or violates equipment provisions of this Traffic Code; the Ohio Revised Code or any federal statute or regulation pertaining to equipment of motor vehicles or commercial motor vehicles;
(8) When any vehicle is left unattended due to the removal of an ill, injured or arrested operator;
(9) When any vehicle has been operated by any person who has failed to stop in case of an accident or collision;
(10) When any vehicle has been operated by any person who is driving without a lawful license or while his or her license has been suspended;
(11) When any vehicle is found for which two or more citations for violations of this Traffic Code have been issued and the owner or operator thereof has failed to respond to such citations as lawfully required;
(12) Whenever the seizure or impoundment of the vehicle is required by Chapter 333 of the Codified Ordinances, by any provision of the Ohio Revised Code or by the judgment or other order of any court of competent jurisdiction;
(13) Whenever the seizure or impoundment of the vehicle is expressly authorized by a provision of the Codified Ordinances;
(b) Any vehicle removed under authority of subsection (a)(2) or (3) hereof shall be ordered into storage and/or disposed of as provided by Ohio R.C. 4513.60 et. seq. or Codified Ordinance Sections 303.081 et seq. Any other vehicle removed under authority of this section shall be ordered into storage and the Police Department shall forthwith notify the registered vehicle owner of the fact of such removal and impounding, and the reasons therefor. Any person desiring to redeem an impounded vehicle shall appear at the Police Department to furnish satisfactory evidence of identity and ownership or right to possession. Prior to release of the vehicle, the claimant, owner or operator shall either pay the amount due for any fines for
violations on account of which such vehicle was impounded or, as the Court may require, post a bond in an amount set by the Court to appear and answer such violations. No vehicle impounded pursuant to the authority of subsections (a)(4), (a)(6) or (a)(9) shall be released prior to expiration of the maximum period of time allowed by law for the commencement of an action seeking forfeiture of the vehicle as contraband or retention of the vehicle as material evidence in a criminal prosecution without the permission of the Law Director, Prosecuting Attorney or United States District Attorney exercising jurisdiction over the prosecution of the criminal act upon which authority to seize the vehicle is predicated. No vehicle impounded pursuant to the authority of subsection (a)(12) shall be released without a Court Judgment or Order directing such release. The pound operator shall release such vehicle upon receipt of authorization to do so from the Police Division and payment of all towage and storage charges.
(c) A charge of five dollars ($5.00) per day shall be collected for each day during which a vehicle is stored upon premises owned or leased by the Municipality.
(d) No owner or operator shall remove an impounded vehicle from the place of storage without complying with the above procedure. Possession by the owner or operator of a vehicle which has been impounded and unlawfully taken from the place of storage shall constitute prima facie evidence that it was so removed by the owner or operator.
(Ord. 5687. Passed 9-5-95.)
(e) Whoever violates any provision of this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor on a first offense; on a second offense within one year after the first offense, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree; on each subsequent offense within one year after the first offense, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree.