Towing Issues: tow regulation incident, property security, staples

Question
last night m y father in law had parked his car for a whole five minutes in a handicaped zone, to help his wife from the stairwell. i was standing by the car, and within the five minutes of the car sitting there a tow truck had pulled up and started hooking up the vehicle, i myself asked him if he was going to take the car and he replied no, i could obviously see that he wasnt gana put the vehicle back down, so i ran to get my father in law. and  my father in law asked why he was taking the car, and explained our situtation regarding his wife, and the driver said, if you give me 95 dollars, i will take off the vehicle. so my father in law went to his car to retrieve his wallet, and the truck started pulling the vehicle away. my father in law then jumped in the car, and tried to stop him from taking it by accelerating in four wheel drive., when the truck driver had decided to stop, i tried talking calmly to him and he used profanity towards me,  my mother lin law then tried to talk to driver also very calmly and he rolled my mother in laws hands up in windoe. my father in law than pulled the money out of his wallet and pressed it against driver window to show he would pay the fee and again, he used profanity, my father in law went to get his attention by knocking on his window, and his ring popped the safey glass. anybody would no a hand cannot break saftey glass. and  driver contined to egg the situation on by swearing and cussing and making threats.  my dad had to have 5 staples in his arm last night, and driver dropped charges. but my ultimate question is, should the tow truck have been on that property, security had not notified him, he had been driving around the apartment complez doing this to other students, one of wwhich is a roomate of mine. is it legal to ask for cash amount, and is it legal to be on private property unless notified to do so? your help woul be greatly appreciated

Answer
You sent where you lived as a question, so it confused me for a second. I had to back to find your original. First of all you definitely have a cause of action against the towing company. They are responsible for their drivers actions. The actions of the driver were very inappropriate. In California you can access the towing laws on the internet through the DMV web site. They are very easy to search. I believe they still prohibit drivers from cruising for tows, but some still do it. If it was a complex they have to have a signed authorization to tow a vehicle.