Section 22651.3 Of Article 1. Authority To Remove Vehicles From California Vehicle Code >> Division 11. >> Chapter 10. >> Article 1.
22651.3
. (a) Any peace officer, as that term is defined in Chapter
4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal
Code, or any regularly employed and salaried employee, who is engaged
in directing traffic or enforcing parking laws and regulations, of a
city, county, or jurisdiction of a state agency in which any
vehicle, other than a rented vehicle, is located may remove the
vehicle from an offstreet public parking facility located within the
territorial limits in which the officer or employee may act when the
vehicle is known to have been issued five or more notices of parking
violation over a period of five or more days, to which the owner or
person in control of the vehicle has not responded or when any
vehicle is illegally parked so as to prevent the movement of a
legally parked vehicle.
A notice of parking violation issued to a vehicle which is
registered in a foreign jurisdiction or is without current California
registration and is known to have been issued five or more notices
of parking violation over a period of five or more days shall be
accompanied by a warning that repeated violations may result in the
impounding of the vehicle.
(b) The vehicle may be impounded until the owner or person in
control of the vehicle furnishes to the impounding law enforcement
agency evidence of his or her identity and an address within this
state at which he or she can be located and furnishes satisfactory
evidence that bail has been deposited for all notices of parking
violation issued for the vehicle. In lieu of requiring satisfactory
evidence that the bail has been deposited, the impounding law
enforcement agency may, in its discretion, issue a notice to appear
for the offenses charged, as provided in Article 2 (commencing with
Section 40500) of Chapter 2 of Division 17. In lieu of either
furnishing satisfactory evidence that the bail has been deposited or
accepting the notice to appear, the owner or person in control of the
vehicle may demand to be taken without unnecessary delay before a
magistrate within the county in which the offenses charged are
alleged to have been committed and who has jurisdiction of the
offenses and is nearest or most accessible with reference to the
place where the vehicle is impounded.
(c) Evidence of current registration shall be produced after a
vehicle has been impounded. At the discretion of the impounding law
enforcement agency, a notice to appear for violation of subdivision
(a) of Section 4000 may be issued to the owner or person in control
of the vehicle, if the two days immediately following the day of
impoundment are weekend days or holidays.