MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Police arrested a man after, they said, he erupted inside a tow truck company in South Beach, slashing their tires after his mother’s car got towed.
Miami Beach Police units responded to Tremont Towing in Miami Beach on Aug. 27.
According to investigators, 32-year-old Marcel Armesto entered the business to retrieve a car that, he said, belonged to his mother.
Although he brought the keys and the car’s registration, tow yard employees told him the owner of the car would have to be present for them to release the vehicle.
That response did not sit well with Armesto.
The arrest report states Armesto “became irate and exited the front office.” Then, he “approached three of the tow company’s vehicles, and brandishing a folding knife, began to systematically puncture four tires on three separate tow trucks.”
Surveillance video captures the man behind one of the pickup trucks. He looks away when an employee walks by.
In another angle, he is seen stopping behind a second tow truck, near a tire for several minutes. He was also captured turning his back to a tow truck and stabbing a tire in a backwards motion.
Tow truck staff who watched it all unfold on the cameras called the police.
Detectives said they found the folding knife that Armesto used in his shorts pocket.
This is not the first time the tow yard has had to call police on someone trying to retrieve a car.
“This is Tremont Towing. I have a gentleman here who came inside to try to exit the yard with his vehicle,” an employee told a dispatcher.
Back in May, Wizdom Fripp was arrested after he tried to his car without paying.
“He hit my car!” an employee of the tow yard is heard saying.
The driver even hit one of the tow trucks on his way out.
“He finally gave up. He finally gave up,” said the employee.
Officers had to get Fripp out of the car at gunpoint.
Armesto was charged with felony criminal mischief.
Police said that after he arrived in jail, Armesto was charged with pulling the fire alarm and vandalizing his cell after he kept causing trouble.
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