When you are arrested for a DUI the police will tow your vehicle, this is true even if your vehicle is parked in a safe location and not in the middle of the street. The reason they do this is to get your money from you.
The towing charge is usually over $100. but the real money is in the administrative fee that you have to pay to get your car released. In an earlier post I listed the fees that the City of Chicago charge. The City of Chicago charge the most that I have seen. My Client had to pay $2,235.00 to have his car released after he was charged for DUI.
After he hired me, I requested a hearing on the Administrative Fee to try to get the $2,235.00 refunded. After two appearances at the City of Chicago hearings location, 400 W. Superior, I was successful and my client is going to receive a refund of the tow fee and the administrative fee.
There are benefits of trying to get the administrative fee refunded even if you do not ultimately win. This is because the administrative hearing you are able to bring the arresting officer before the administrative law judge and ask the arresting officer questions under oath. You will have to make sure that the proceeding is being recorded and if it is not going to be recorded a court reporter will need to be ordered so that everything the police officer says about your DUI case is recorded. The police officer will not be able to change his story later because he will now be on record.
If at the administrative hearing the police officer does not want to testify, you will receive you administrative fee back. It is possible that the city decides to refund you the administrative fee rather than have the police officer be locked into a story.
With the case with the City of Chicago that I just won, I wanted to get the arresting officer’s testimony. However, because the City of Chicago did not want the police officer to testify without the State’s Attorney’s Office present, (at the administrative hearings the City of Chicago has its Corporation Counsel assisting and not the State’s Attorney), my client was able to get his $2,235.00 back and start winning his case.