Ducati Monster Forum

posted for johnny crash ...


Some of y'all may know me, Johnny Crash. I'm the almost obsessive owner of an '06 Ducati Sport1000, who has piled up more than 50K miles on this amazin' motorcycle!

The long and short of this sad story is the DMV, in their infinite wisdom, had not informed me of my license being suspended. So I was driving/riding on a suspended lic. fer quite a while w/o any knowledge. Zip forward a bit and I was riding to a shoot I had scheduled and was pulled over by the Sheriff for my relocated lic. plate. He informed me that my lic. was suspended and that he would be towing my bike. Figured I'd simply pick it up the next day w/ a friend and I'd be out a few hundred dollars, this was not the case... The Sheriff had not informed me that a 30 day hold had been placed on the bike!  These  fees totaled well near $3K! This was pretty much impossible for me, as I am unemployed and my limited income is just enough for me to barely get by month to month.

I just received the lien sale notification from DMV and was a little excited to hear that it may well cost me substantially less to recover my motorcycle! I have until the 14th of Jan to scavenge up the cash to make this happen!

In an attempt to gather the much needed cash to reclaim my bike I'm selling a couple of pieces of riding gear, and also have a number of framed prints of San Francisco burlesque performers.

My fotos are available here...
http://www.facebook.com/Johnny.Crash.Photography/posts/191697020845979?ref=notif&notif_t=share_comment#!/album.php?aid=75480&id=1455841012&fbid=1581720190343 (http://www.facebook.com/Johnny.Crash.Photography/posts/191697020845979?ref=notif&notif_t=share_comment#!/album.php?aid=75480&id=1455841012&fbid=1581720190343)

And descriptions of the gear is available here...
http://www.facebook.com/Johnny.Crash.Photography/posts/191697020845979?ref=notif&notif_t=share_comment#!/note.php?note_id=446649536002&id=1455841012 (http://www.facebook.com/Johnny.Crash.Photography/posts/191697020845979?ref=notif&notif_t=share_comment#!/note.php?note_id=446649536002&id=1455841012)

Anything y'all could do to help a brother out would be greatly appreciated ... email me @ jbracing69@gmail.com

And remember, there are plenty of lawyers on this board  ;D

Links do not work unless the person clicking them has a facebook account.

hmmmm, bummer.  i have the my facebooks, so did not notice that problem.

if interested, send an email to johnny crash @ jbracing69@gmail.com , he can send photos.

wurd!  [evil]

Who is this person?   

john allan ... aka, johnny crash.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnnycrashphotography/sets/72157608065375012/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnnycrashphotography/sets/72157608065375012/)

Ah yes...I remember him.  Maybe he can arrange to have a friend buy the bike and then buy it back from him??

wow, that is the strangest thing i've ever heard of. they forced it to be held 30 days to make it that much!
that's just crazy

good luck.

dq started a facebook campaign to help raise money for johnny crash, using a paypal account. 

The group is here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_178910372142340 (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_178910372142340)

Or you can donate via PayPal using this link:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=FTUEUKVNKXNXJ (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=FTUEUKVNKXNXJ)

Or you can by one of Johnny's items above!

That's really cool of you guys.  Best of luck to him.   [thumbsup]

FYI, the links to stuff he wants to sell aren't working.

the links work ... but only if you have a my facebooks account ... i have checked them again just now ... still working.

unfortunately, johnny does not have these photos posted any other place ... his mind is elsewhere at this time, worrying about getting his sportclassic out of impound.

anyway, the paypal account that dq set up is working ... so anyone can make a donation ... no need to buy any of johnny's stuff.

I think the point John was that most of us

1) don't know this guy from dirt and won't donate
and
2) might buy something but can't actually see what's available.

If you care all that much, post that stuff up elsewhere-we know you got nothing else you do at your age 'cept plan on moving to Florida and watch Matlock.

i AM matlock, you asshat  8)

just do the right thing ... use the paypal account that dq set up and send johnny $5 to help him get his sportclassic out of police impound.

I'm in for a few bucks just 'cause this is BS a man can have his tide taken away when he's down. That sucks.

I mean, it's one latte $5. you made $5 while reading this post.
I met this guy when he was donating his time for La Ducati day.
That's worth 5 bones being a good guy. Being a Ducatista.  [thumbsup]

I think most of us have met him actually.  He doesn't hang out regularly but he's shown up to a lot of the LDD things, North Bay meets, and just random encounters.  He used to post up on BARF quite a bit, but that was some time ago.  He's a decent guy, got a kid or two IIRC.  Real interesting fellow if you get the chance to meet/talk with him.  His bike is the shizznit, too, and the guy rides. 

Anyhoosiers, I just thought I'd toss that out there.  I'm hoping it's the same guy I'm thinking of.  The Flickr account and images of the bike seem like him. 

I know JC, as we both have the same Sport Classic, but we haven't exchanged notes for a few years now.  I did donate to his cause via the PayPal account.

I'm sorry, but it is hard to imagine JC will get enough people to donate 5 bucks to get close to the $3K he needs.  I did put in $20, and that still hardly makes a dent.  So I concur with MrIncredilble, that If JC has things for sale, perhaps it might help him reach his goal more quickly.

First of all, many thanks for donating!

Johnny needs $1300-$1400, and we're actually getting close! Between finding some photography gigs for him and the donations, we're only $500 away now. We WILL get this done. And to close that gap we're going to do something revolutionary: we're going to drink beer.

Johnny Crash Fundraiser
WHEN: Thursday, 13 January - 6PM
WHERE: Ace Cafe San Francisco
1799 Mission St (at 14th)
San Francisco, CA 94103

DETAILS:
We're buying a keg...$10, and it's all you can drink till the keg is gone!

BTW - Here's the Facebook Event link:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=172212689487476 (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=172212689487476)

Have you tried BARF as well?  Just a larger audience there.

[strike]I was hoping that Johnc or Mostrobelle could post up there. I lose brain cells every time I look at BARF ;D[/strike]

Scratch that...posted:
http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6320214#post6320214 (http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6320214#post6320214)

Would probably be best if someone else did it.  I got burned with Kurt on that and now that I'm a mod I don't want to risk that kind of negative publicity.  If I knew him or his situation better I'd be more inclined to jump into the middle of it. 

Done -
http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6320214#post6320214 (http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6320214#post6320214)

Perfect.  I'll help monitor it for ya. 

Wish I could be there for the beer drink (unless it was Bud) but I cant. Donation sent instead.

Thanks Dave!

Folks -

I got an update from Johnny late last night, and on the basis of what he told me we're going to cancel the fundraiser. I repeat: we're cancelling the fundraiser. There won't be any beer (well, no more than normal) at Ace Café tomorrow night. We'll also be refunding everyone's donations so far.

And now for the longer explanation. On January 6, Johnny got a letter from the DMV warning him about the lien sale on his bike. That letter listed his total fees as $1275, an amount that was well within reach of our fundraising abilities. But after finally getting through to the DMV and the tow yard, we discovered that the DMV is months behind in its notifications, and that the amount they calculated was wrong…in fact, it was a few months old. After accounting for storage fees to date, the total was around $7000. The tow yard is willing to accept $5000, but since we don't have much chance of raising that much (and there are some other legal quirks with the impound we have to work out) we decided to cancel the fundraiser and refund the donations made to date.

Johnny is truly awed by the outpouring of support and encouragement that happened in such a short time. Thanks to all of you who donated, gave words of encouragement, and got the word out. We have an incredible motorcycle community!

Thanks,


Joe

I think you guys should still have a beer drink though.  [drink]

I plan to be there. [drink]

this totally sucks balls.

dq, please don't refund my donation ... send it along to johnny, as i am sure he can still use it for other issues he has going on currently.

f the police, f the impound yard and f the dmv.  they all can suck a my little canadian balls.

Yeah, this whole thing makes me sick. 

Last year, my loving neighbor had my beater Toyota impounded and I was not able to get it out right away, short on cash, pretty much like what happened with JohnnyCrash.  I remember it ended up costing me $800 to get my car back when it had a KBB of maybe half that.  Sucks.

I also feel like JohnC and would have asked not to have my donation refunded, but it already has been.  If there is a future event or way to help JohnnyCrash, I will donate again.

Thanks man. I think we need some serious reform of impound laws in CA. Tow yards make out like bandits and cops are allowed to, in effect, steal your car and sell it. And in Johnny's case it was over a fix-it ticket that went to collections and caused a license suspension. Makes me wonder who the real crook is...

Isn't it against the law to forfeit someones property without due process of law?

I take offense to the word "canadian" being tossed around so cavalierly in here. 

That's a bummer for Johnny...it seems that he should be able to argue the fee amount.  If he wasn't informed because an agency is behind on their notifications he should have a case.  Or plead hardship and work out a payment plan?  Perhaps consider suing them?  Something just isn't adding up. 

nothing cavalier about it, eh ...

besides, i hate horses, eh.

With budgets being so tight, I expect a lot more pressure to 'collect revenues.'

Co-workers neighbor got shaken down for a few bills over a very similar situation and it's more of a "pay first, get refunds later" sort of arrangement  [bang]

I'll add that this same co-worker got a fix-it ticket which I took care of while he was out of the country:

It isn't at all clear what you need to do.
It isn't stated what you need to pay.
Basically if you don't get the vehicle inspected / signed off on, then march the ticket down to the hall of justice and pay them money (amount not stated) you're hosed.

In short it seems almost deliberately designed to make people be not able to be "in compliance."


Plus, I didn't see an of the SuperFriends down at the Hall of Justice, which made me sad.

George Gascon thinks he's Aquaman. But nobody gives a shit about Aquaman.

It's against the US constitution and many state constitutions, but police agencies have been doing it for years. In CA, the law in question was signed by Gray Davis with the intent of cracking down on undocumented immigrants by taking their cars and putting an automatic 30 day hold on them. And at $75-$130 a day in storage fees, municipalities and their monopoly tow yard operators are making out like bandits every time someone's car gets nicked. In fact, I hear that some municipalities charge you impound and storage when your vehicle is stolen and the police recover it.

I'd like to see all "revenue" from impounds, traffic citations, and parking citations put into a giant statewide pool of money that gets used for some purpose other than law enforcement budgeting. That might eliminate any perverse incentives here.


That's essentially what he's doing. Johnny, with the help of our lawyer friend Kevin Greenquist, is contesting the lien sale on the basis of faulty notice. We tried making the tow yard an offer, but they won't budge. And they won't release the bike until Johnny gets his license back.

So If I understand this right...He got a fix it ticket (on the bike?) that he didn't fix, so they suspended his license and towed his bike. One of the stipulations that the towyard has is that he has to have his license to get the bike, but the bike is in the towyard so he cant fix it and get it signed off?

That's the gist of it. A fix-it ticket went to collections, resulting in an automatic suspension of his license. The DMV never notified him of that suspension (they're 3 months behind on letters & notifications), so he kept driving. A sheriff pulled him over to hassle him for his license plate mount, radio'ed in his license, found out it was suspended, and impounded the bike instead of giving him a pass. Because the impound was due to a license suspension, state law requires an automatic 30 day hold on the impound (incurring $75/day storage fees) and also requires a valid license and proof of insurance to get the bike out. Now remember that the DMV is 3 months behind on paperwork...so they sent him a letter Jan 6 stating that his fees so far were $1275...but when he called, he found out how far behind that calculation was...it's actually $7000. So now they're going to sell his ride and try to recover those fees. It's absolutely criminal.

I'm really interested in the content of this thread, but am having a hard time separating the Tin Foil Hat Club's bent on things from bare facts.  If what I'm hearing is truly the case, then that's pretty disturbing.

Does anyone know where the policy for this situation is laid out so that I can read it for myself?   

If someone buys it for half that - will they slap your friend with the difference?

If so, wouldn't the lesser of two evils be to buy it back? (assuming the funds are available)

No. They'll get $4500 for it, but they won't let it go for less than $5000...plus the license issue needs to get resolved.

Who are you calling the Tin Foil Hat club? [bang] [bang] [bang] [bang]

here's the CHP's website response:
http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/impound.html (http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/impound.html)

Now what the CHP site doesn't detail is the fact that the county controls the impound cost, where the car goes, etc. Many counties have given contracts to private tow operators with tow yards to operate as the official impound lots. These counties levy a daily storage fee, which is tacked on to the fines and can keep you from getting your vehicle back. San Mateo county (where Johnny's bike is) charges $75 a day for storage. San Francisco charges $120 a day. This money (either all or a good portion of it) goes to the tow yard operator.

And some more info:
http://www.ehow.com/about_6162811_california-impound-law.html (http://www.ehow.com/about_6162811_california-impound-law.html)

Who Benefits From This Law
# A lot of people reap the benefits of this law. According to the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley, the California Impound Law generated $40 million in 2009. Many cities split this revenue with towing companies. Also, drivers on the road benefit from having fewer unlicensed and uninsured drivers in nearby lanes.

How Many Vehicles Are Reclaimed
# A surprising amount of vehicles go unclaimed. The vice president of the California Tow Truck Association asserted that at least two-thirds of the impounded vehicles are never claimed. The Inland Congregations United for Change believes that is because many drivers are poor and unable to raise enough money to pay the fines.

Thanks, d00d.  Not that I don't believe ya, but I like to look at stuff for myself. 

See, that's the root of all your problems in life. You should blindly obey. It's just easier.