(A) (1) Vehicles subject to impoundment. Any vehicle which shall be or remain standing or parked upon any public street, avenue, way, alley or other public place may be removed by or upon order of the Chief of Police and placed in storage in a privately operated garage or other place designated by or maintained by the city, under the following circumstances:
(a) When any vehicle is found upon a street, avenue, alley, way or public place and a report has been previously made that the vehicle has been stolen or complaint has been filed and a warrant issued thereon, charging that the vehicle has been stolen or converted in violation of law;
(b) When any police officer of the city has reasonable grounds to believe that any vehicle has been abandoned;
(c) When a police officer arrests any person driving or in control of a vehicle for an alleged offense and such officer is or may be required by law to take the person arrested immediately before a magistrate, or if the arrested person is immediately taken before a Magistrate, and when the arrested person is the sole occupant or the owner of the vehicle and is immediately placed in custody;
(d) When a vehicle is so disabled that its normal operation is impossible or impractical and the persons in charge of the vehicle are incapacitated by reason of physical injury or other causes to such an extent as to be unable to provide for its removal or custody, or cannot be found or are not in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle; and/or
(e) When any vehicle is left standing or parked unattended in violation of any applicable provisions of this traffic code, state law or city ordinance, rule or regulation; provided, however, that, if the vehicle is parked or standing immediately in front of or immediately adjacent to property owned by the owner of the vehicle, or property rented by the owner, before the vehicle shall be removed, the owner thereof shall be given reasonable notice to remove or cause to be removed the vehicle.
(2) Reclaiming by owner. In order to obtain possession of a vehicle stored under the provisions of this section, the claimant must produce satisfactory evidence of ownership or right to possession within 30 days from the date of the storage and, in addition thereto, must pay all charges for storage and removal of the vehicle, in addition to any fine.
(B) The provisions of division (A) above shall not be construed to relieve from or lessen the responsibility of any person who shall leave his or her vehicle parked on the streets of the city in such a manner that the vehicle may be impounded, nor shall the city be held as assuming any such liability by reason of impounding or causing to be impounded the vehicle.
(1998 Code, § 118-223)
Statutory reference:
Removal of illegally parked vehicles, see Tex. Transportation Code § 545.305