(A) Authority to impound vehicles. Members of the Police Department are hereby authorized to remove, or have removed, a vehicle from a street, public alley or municipal parking lot to the nearest garage or other place of safety, or to a garage designated or maintained by the Police Department, or otherwise maintained by the city, under the following circumstances:
(1) When a vehicle is upon a roadway and is so disabled as to constitute an obstruction to traffic and the person or persons in charge of the vehicle are, by reason of physical injury or otherwise, unable to provide for the vehicle’s custody or removal;
(2) When any vehicle is left unattended upon a street or municipal parking lot and is so illegally parked as to constitute a definite hazard or obstruction to the normal movement to traffic;
(3) When any vehicle is left parked upon a street or municipal parking lot for a continuous period of 48 hours or more, except areas of municipal parking lots at the municipal airport designated long-term parking;
(4) When any vehicle is left parked upon a street, alley or municipal parking lot in a manner which interferes with any officer or employee of the city in cleaning, marking, repairing or using the street, alley or parking lot, or in removing snow or ice therefrom; and
(5) In addition to the penalties hereinafter provided, the owner or operator of any vehicle impounded for violation of any of the provisions of this section shall be required to pay the reasonable cost of towing charges and storage before it is released. The towing and storage charges shall be set by the City Council from time to time by resolution.
(B) Assumption regarding parked vehicles. In any proceeding charging a standing or parking violation, a prima facie presumption that the registered owner was the person who parked or placed such vehicle at the point where, and for the time during which such violation occurred, shall be raised by proof that:
(1) The particular vehicle described in the information was parked in violation of this code; and
(2) The defendant named in the information was the registered owner at the time in question.
(Prior Code, § 7-5-6) (Ord. 97, passed 6-19-1961; Ord. 398, passed 2-18-1991; Ord. 453, passed 3-21-1994; Ord. 512, passed 2-15-1999; Ord. 621, passed 3-7-2005)