Towed cars left outside Metro Hall 2-6-22

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A business owner in the Irish Hill neighborhood is tired of finding wrecked cars across from his coffee shop.

“This is happening frequently. There was a car that was dropped off here over a couple months ago that sat here for almost 90 days," said Leo Fante.

For Fante, battered, beaten up cars sitting outside his shop, Fante's Coffee house, is an embarrassment — and he's come to a breaking point.

“I'm just tired of people dropping off wrecked cars. I'm a business owner. I run a clean business, we keep our place neat, and the city has chosen to make our place a salvage yard," Fante said. 

Fante reported one car he says had been left sitting off Etley Avenue, in between Grinstead Drive and Lexington Road, for over a week, calling Louisville Metro council member Bill Hollander.

Hollander told WDRB News he and his assistant did speak with an LMPD Lieutenant on Jan. 2, who told them the department was looking into clearing the vehicle.

A few days later, in the early hours Sunday morning, four more cars were added by an LMPD tow truck.

The cars' placement off Etley Avenue, not on Fante's property, does take up parking spaces used by customers for his business and surrounding businesses.

LMPD sent a statement to WDRB News, saying a multi-car wreck happened on I-64. Those cars were towed off the highway to the spot by Fante's business so the owners could arrange for their own tows.

But Fante, fed up, took matters into his own hands. He paid to have all but one of the five cars towed. Dropping them off outside Metro Hall in downtown Louisville.

Once LMPD was made aware, city wreckers took the cars to the city’s tow lot.

LMPD did say neither Fante nor the private tow company had legal authority to remove the cars since they were not on Fante's property.

Metro Council President David James told WDRB Fante’s actions shows the level of frustration that Louisville residents are dealing with.

"You have constituents constantly calling about these abandoned vehicles in their neighborhoods and how dangerous they are," said James. 

He also said Mayor Greg Fischer should set a policy to have cars removed within a particular time frame.

"There's no reason that the mayor can't make a policy where he gets all sections of government to work together in order to say that within three days we're going to have our cars off the streets — and he should make that a goal," James said. 

Fante simply hopes his call to action will be taken seriously, prompting Metro government to come up with a solution to the problem.

“As a business owner I will not stand for them dropping them off in the cover of darkness in front of my business. I’m not going to stand for that,” Fante said.

LMPD's full statement can be read here:

During the overnight hours, LMPD responded to a collision involving multiple vehicles on I-64.  An LMPD truck towed the wrecked vehicles off the highway to a nearby street, allowing the owners to arrange for their own private tows.  One owner did have his vehicle removed.  This afternoon, LMPD was made aware that the owner of a business near the location of the wrecked vehicles arranged for a private tow company to remove several of the vehicles.  He is not believed to be the owner of the property where the vehicles were left.  The private tow company moved the vehicles to Metro Hall at the business owner’s direction.  Once LMPD was made aware, city wreckers retrieved the vehicles and took them to the city’s tow lot.  Neither the business owner nor the private tow company had the authority to legally remove the vehicles.  At this time, we are unable to determine the origin of the vehicle the business owner claims was parked for more than a week.

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