Philadelphia Tow Truck Wars: Wreck Chasers Get Violent

Sept. 29, 2010— -- When a car in Philadelphia gets into an accident, the race begins for tow truck companies to get to the site and claim the wreck for their firms.

What might be normal business competition in other cities has become a fierce battle in Philadelphia, riddled with arson, gunshots and now a homicide.

The ongoing turf war between Philadelphia's tow truck companies escalated to deadly violence over the weekend. Philadelphia Police told ABC News driver Ray Santiago was killed early Sunday morning after another driver repeatedly hit Santiago with his tow truck.

Greg McDaniel, 25, has been arrested for Santiago's killing. Authorities believe McDaniel killed Santiago after a verbal argument that became physical. The killing is just one incident in a long string of clashes between tow truck drivers in the last few months.

In July a tow truck driver was shot in the leg after employees from J & Sons Auto Body got into a fight with Mystical Complete Auto Services over towing car that needed towing. Police arrested Jose LaTorre Jr. from J & Sons and charged him with attempted murder for the shooting.

In the days after the shooting both businesses were vandalized. The J & Sons lot was torched by arsonists, who were caught on surveillance video pouring a substance around their tow truck moments before it went up in flames. Mystical Complete was fired upon; six shots landed in the business office.

To Philadelphia Councilman Frank Rizzo, Jr., it is "really an embarrassment to our city that people can in fact conduct themselves in this manner."

Philadelphia customarily dictates that the first truck on the scene gets the business. In the past, tow truck drivers would listen to police scanners for work of car wrecks, and would race to the scene.

A new computer dispatch system was installed to assign companies to different wrecks, but a crop of aggressive tow truck drivers -- known as "wreck chasers" -- have developed a reputation for skirting the rules to beat their competition to a car in need of towing.

Rizzo told ABC News, "I don't have a problem with tow truck operators trying to solicit business, but I have a problem when they do it in an unethical way, when they do it where they race to the scene of accidents at high speeds, violating traffic signals, stop signs to be the first. That's how the culture works, if you're there first you have claim to solicit the person."

Additionally, police officers are no longer automatically dispatched to the scene of a minor accident in Philadelphia as part of a new policy the cash-strapped city government began over the summer.

"They ask the people involved to just exchange insurance information and that's the end of it. The minute that that was created, that opened the door for wreck chasers," Rizzo said.

The truck wars on the streets of Philadelphia also have implications for consumers. "Many times they misrepresent themselves. They claim to be interested in the tow but they ask the person to sign a document that doesn't just permit them to tow the car it also authorizes them to repair the vehicle. So everything that they do, in my opinion, is outrageous," Rizzo said.

"People try to get their car back from a tow truck operator and the cost to get the car back is exorbitant."

Rizzo said he will convene hearings next month to discuss ways Philadelphia can crack down on the illegal practices of tow truck drivers.

The drama on the city's streets has now caught the attention of reality television executives. Cable network TLC began filming "Wreck Chasers" in the city this past May, following tow truck drivers as they make the rounds in Philadelphia.