An SUV is towed away from in front of 90 Bank Street while a junk trailer and tow truck await the same fate on January 7, 2025. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
William Poku wants his two SUV’s back. And his tow truck and his New Jersey Bell bucket truck and the trailer stacked with lumber and furniture and broken toy parts. And he’s asking a judge to make the towing company that towed them away bring them all back to Bank Street.
The property owner in a years-long tug of war with the town over the junkyard-like conditions on his property is suing the towing contractor hired by Red Bank Police to clear five vehicles from the street in front of his house last month, records show.
Poku filed a lawsuit January 28 in state Superior Court in Monmouth County against borough contractor Taylor’s Towing, of Wall Township, saying while Red Bank Police released his vehicles ten days after they were towed, the towing company has not returned them in violation of borough ordinances.
Vehicles and debris in the yard of 90 Bank Street last fall. (photo by Brian Donohue)
The complaint asks the court to issue an order “directing the immediate return of 5 plaintiff’s vehicles to Bank Street” and unspecified monetary damages. Documents included with the complaint include release forms for each of the five vehicles signed by a Red Bank Police Officer.
Poku’s lawsuit states the company is violating the borough ordinance related to towing by storing vehicles in places other than the designated impound lot on Central Avenue. One vehicle was taken to Taylor’s facility in Wall Township, the complaint states and others went to the company’s storage yard.
On January 7, Red Bank Police towed away a trailer full of lumber and junk that had sat unmoved for at least seven years in front of his home at 90 Bank Street. They also towed the bucket truck; a tow truck that had not moved for years, and two Nissan Murano SUVs.
The vehicles were towed because they were in violation of temporary no parking restrictions in place so contractors could remove two underground lead water service lines as part of a massive townwide effort to ensure safe drinking water.
While the towing was unrelated to the long running disputes over the mess, the sight of flatbeds removing the vehicles was met with expressions of relief from neighbors who have long complained about conditions on the property. By rough count, about nine more vehicles still remain among hundreds of piles and containers of other unknown materials.
A representative with Taylor’s Towing said they would not comment on the lawsuit. Borough officials also declined to comment. Asked by a redbankgreen reporter who stopped his car to ask him about his effort to get his vehicles back Poku replied, “Keep moving.”
As per the borough ordinance, towing companies can charge owners $30 per day for the storage of their vehicles while they are impounded.
For years, the borough’s ordinance required that all towed vehicles be stored at a lot within four miles of the intersection of Broad Street and Harding Road.
In December, the borough council approved an ordinance extending that distance to seven miles. Borough officials said the single lot the borough rents on Central Avenue often starts to overflow with unclaimed vehicles between the auctions at which the town sells them off. It appeared at or near capacity in the week the five vehicles were towed from in front of 90 Bank Street.
For years, Poku’s property has been the source of complaints from neighbors about the fire hazard posed by the property as well as rodents, vermin and difficulty in walking down the sidewalk which is often obstructed by tires, dead trees, and other junk.
In 2019, Borough Attorney Greg Cannon said the borough council had decided to allow him to pursue civil action that could result in sheriff’s officers ordering removal of the junk from the property. In the six years since, the amount of junk on the property has grown considerably, as have the complaints from neighbors.
Records show Poku was ordered by a Red Bank Municipal Court judge to pay $11,090 in fines on April 1, 2021. He was put on a $65 a month payment plan which is up in 2033.
The complaint Poku filed January 17 seeking the return of his cars is the latest in a series of lawsuits he has filed against the borough, its employees, police officers, judging hearing his cases and borough contractors dating back decades.
While most of those have centered on code and parking violations near property, last May, he filed a personal injury lawsuit against the Borough and a property owner after falling on the sidewalk at the corner of Pearl and Monmouth Streets.
Have a news tip or story idea? redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
