LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Todd Gary has had a tough few days that started Sunday with a routine phone call to his best friend.
The chat ended the way it always had.
"I said, 'I love you, brother.' And he said, 'I love you too,'" Gary recalled.
As it turns out, those words would be the last he'd exchange with his friend, 53-year-old Craig Diebold, because the next morning, Diebold got in his truck to drive to work, unknowingly, for the last time.
"Got on the Watterson Expressway going to work, and got on at Poplar Level down by the I-64 interchange," Gary said. "He had a heart attack — massive heart attack — and pulled into the emergency lane and passed away."
However, it's what has happened since that has Gary and Diebold's widow even more upset, lost and hopeless amongst the grief they're already experiencing.
"We've been trying to get his truck out of impoundment," Gary said.
After his death on the Watterson Expressway inside his vehicle, Diebold's prized blue 1992 Ford F-150 was towed to LMPD's Vehicle Impoundment Unit lot on Frankfort Avenue.
"Street value? It's not worth a whole lot. Sentimental value? It's worth a million to us," Gary said. "It is Craig. The truck is Craig. When you seen the truck coming down the road, you knew it was Craig."
So, since Monday, Gary has been trying to help Diebold's widow retrieve the truck, get personal items out of it, or, at the very least, see the truck where her husband took his last breath. However, because her name isn't on his vehicle's title, LMPD won't allow the widow to retrieve the truck.
"We have proof of insurance," Gary said. "Proof that they are married."
But that documentation is not good enough. An LMPD spokesperson was not available to go on camera Thursday, but he said the widow will need a court order or probate decision to get the truck or anything inside it. He said circumstances don't matter: policy dictates retrieval of vehicles from the impound lot. The spokesperson also said the department isn't treating this case differently than any other.
"It just shouldn't be this hard," Gary said in frustration. "I hope that they will put their heads together and come up with some type of change."
Gary said it's not only policy that should change but also the way he feels he was treated by impound lot workers.
"That's what it's supposed to be: a compassionate city. But the circumstances here — I'm not seeing any compassion at all," he said. "For the impoundment lot, I'll give (the customer service) a zero on a scale of one to ten. Really, I'd give them a negative. Negative five. Terrible."
An attorney for the widow has penned a yet-undelivered letter to Chief Steve Conrad and Mayor Greg Fischer.
"Efforts to resolve this matter have been unsuccessful and disheartening due to remarks that the truck was not valuable and should be surrendered," wrote the attorney, J. Bart McMahon. "Beyond the truck itself, Mr. Diebold had personal items in the truck that have great sentimental value to the family. Time is of the essence with increasing costs of impoundment, and I ask that either of you act compassionately and intervene on behalf of Mrs. Diebold."
Copyright 2019 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
