ESPN's Britt McHenry seems to act like a bitch to a parking lot attendant -- but was it justified?

[Dan Druff]

If you pull into a let's say a dental office parking lot somewhere after hours and there are signs there that say it is not okay to park there and violators will be towed etc... then I have no problem with them towing your vehicle.

Is it a little scummy, yes, but it is their property and you are parking in a tow zone. Drive around and find a place to park or pay for parking somewhere.

Otherwise

It's more than a little scummy for the owner of the dental office to hide tow trucks who spy on people parking there, and then take a cut of the towing profits.

That's when it transitions from "overly controlling business owner" to "asshole in cahoots with towing companies to tow people for profit".

Just because something is left on your property doesn't give you a right to do with it what you want.

Let's say I park my car at your business after hours, and violate your "parking for customers only" sign.

Do you have the right to take a sledgehammer to my car and destroy it? Can you say, "Well, it was on my property, and you weren't supposed to be here" and get away with it?

Of course not. You can't leave your lot open to the public and then decide you have carte blanche to do what you want with cars that are parked there. Towing is not supposed to be done for punishment or profiteering. It's a last resort when all other methods fail to remove an unauthorized car.

This becomes especially bad when the towing is occurring to line the business owner's pockets, rather than out of concern for his lot being used without his permission.