Portland woman ‘trapped’ at home waiting for police to help with abandoned car

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A Portland woman woke up Friday shocked to find a car abandoned in her driveway, blocking her garage. While she was able to find where it came from, the lack of help and slow response she received has left her frustrated.

“I’m trapped on my property, basically, and I can’t get out of my car and I’m trapped here if I need to go anywhere,” Holly Bell said.

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The pediatric nurse was stranded at home, unable to get to work. So she decided to ask the police for help.

“They haven’t been able to help me,” she said. “They had to call towing. Towing said it could take three days to tow the car. I’ve called other towing companies. I can maybe get some help, but I need to find out if the car is stolen or not.”

She was told nothing could happen until police confirmed if the car was stolen or not. Portland police said this issue is considered a non-emergency and therefore will need to be handled by the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

At one point Bell even called PBOT who said they could not do anything since the car was on private property. Bell said she went around to neighbors trying to find the owner but got nothing. KOIN 6 News Reporter Joey Vacca went next door to Bell’s house, and actually found where the car came from.

“This is my roommate’s car,” Jared Lutui, a neighbor, said. “It broke down when he went to drop his daughter off. It broke down, and we’ve been waiting for a tow truck. Finally got the tow truck. They were supposed to drop it off to our house, but then ended up dropping it off here.”

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The neighbors told Bell the car is not drivable, but once they get the keys from the tow company they would push it back over to their house. Bell said she was somewhat relieved to know where the car came from, but is still wondering why she could not get help sooner.

“I could be waiting all day basically, and I have things to do,” she said. “I just didn’t think the response would be this slow to get help.”

KOIN 6 reached out to the Portland Police Bureau about the incident and they said in response non-emergency calls related to cars sometimes get forwarded to PBOT. However, PBOT wasn’t able to help in this case because the car was on private property.

By the late afternoon, the tow company finally came and KOIN 6 News was there when the car was finally hauled off.

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