Rexburg Booting: A heated issue stuck in neutral

REXBURG — A local woman’s message was read by thousands of east Idahoans this week when she took to social media to complain about predatory booting practices in Rexburg.

Cortney Durbin posted on several Facebook groups Sunday, Oct. 18, about alleged “bullying” by Guardian Booting and Towing and its owner, Darren Helm.

“This man is behaving like a total criminal, and he deserves to be stopped,” she wrote. “It’s going to be up to us as citizens to stand up against this sort of thing.”

It wasn’t the first time Helm or Guardian Booting and Towing have come under public fire for its business practices. In the past they’ve been criticized for unlawfully booting or preying on people who can’t find a legitimate visitor parking spot.

Helm and many of the apartment complex owners that employ him maintain they have a right to police their lots.

“The apartment owners hire us to manage their parking to make sure residents are parked in appropriate location so the people that live there and pay have a place to park when they get home,” Helm told EastIdahoNews.com. “We take photos of the vehicles to I can be transparent with the managers and those that are booted.”

The debate has spilled into City Council meetings many times in the last decade. Multiple attempts have been made remedy the issue with city legislation, but each time the measures have failed or been tabled. Helm was even arrested last year for refusing to remove a boot, but was ultimately acquitted in May.

The following are several incidents surrounding Helm’s case, as well as the ongoing efforts to regulate booting in Rexburg:

The State vs. Darren Helm

A Madison County jury found Helm not guilty on the misdemeanor charge of resisting or obstructing officers on Thursday, May 7.

During the trial, Helm’s attorney, Allen Browning, presented evidence to the court that Ruben Echegoyen, a Brigham Young University-Idaho student, had been lying about the events surrounding a booting incident in October 2014.

The police report

The initial police incident report shows Echegoyen, a student living at Shelbourne Apartments, was booted in his own parking lot Oct. 29, 2014.

He told police he had bought the vehicle within the last 24 hours and had received a valid parking permit for the car. However, he said the permit was displayed in the rear-view window rather than on the bumper.

Echegoyen said that despite having a valid permit, a Guardian employee refused to remove the boot from the vehicle.

Police were called and Helm also arrived on the scene to take responsibility for the boot. “Officers informed Helm he did not have a legal right to seize and hold this vehicle,” City Attorney Stephen Zollinger told EastIdahoNews.com in May.

Helm refused to remove the boot without payment and would not sign a police citation. Helm said “he could not be cited for obstructing and delaying because it was private property and it was not my place to do it,” according to the officer’s incident report.

After further refusals Helm was arrested, a citation was issued at the police station, and he was released.

The timeline of events was corroborated in dashcam video that was presented by the prosecution.

VIDEO: Dashcam video from the Rexburg Police Department on Oct. 29, 2014. It details a Guardian Booting and Towing employee refusing to remove a boot from a vehicle. Guardian owner Darren Helm arrives on the scene and is arrested after he refuses to accept a misdemeanor citation for not removing the boot. Video courtesy Madison County.

READ THE POLICE INCIDENT REPORT HERE.

Evidence at trial

Two pieces of evidence presented during the trial dispute Echegoyen’s accounting of events.

Court documents show Browning produced two photos of Echegoyen’s vehicle. The first image was taken during the booting process and it shows that no permit was visible anywhere on the vehicle.

The second photo, taken after Echegoyen had called Guardian to have the boot removed, shows the temporary permit was placed in the back of his car, near the rear window and partially obscured.

“He failed to affix the permit as instructed,” Browning said in a May news release. “Therefore, the car was booted. Evidence during the trial showed that after being booted, the temporary permit was put in the back of his car.”

Additionally, Echegoyen’s housing contract, which also was presented in court, stipulates permit-holding students are responsible for booting fees if the permit is not properly affixed to the vehicle.

Rexburg’s Booting and Towing ordinance states when a boot is placed on a car for violating the parking rules of a property owner, booting companies can legally keep the boot on the vehicle until the fee is paid.

Based on the evidence, the jury concluded that Helm’s refusal to remove the boot, even after instruction from a police officer, was not a violation of city ordinance.

Helm was acquitted of the charge.

In a May news release, Darren stated through his attorney that “he hoped that the lawless interference by city police will stop and that he can do his job without interference.”

PHOTOS: The first photo shows the back of Echegoyen’s vehicle when it was booted. It does not have a visible permit. The second photo was taken when Guardian arrived to remove the boot. It shows that a permit had been placed in the rear of the vehicle. Photos courtesy Madison County.

Predatory booting is not a new problem

Complaints about predatory booting are far from new in Rexburg, but it’s doubtful anything will be done legislatively to address the problem in the near future.

The issue has been brought before the City Council at least six times in the last decade, and each time it has been tabled or defeated.

When a predatory booting ordinance was shot down in 2011, Councilwoman Donna Benfield summed up the longheld opinion of council members. From the Rexburg Standard Journal:

“I feel it’s between the owner of the apartment complex and the person committing a violation,” said Benfield. “It’s happening on private property, so I do not feel that the city should be involved.”

The most recent attempt was in June 2014, when Rexburg Mayor Richard Woodland led an initiative to amend or repeal and replace Rexburg’s booting and towing ordinance. He felt it was a city issue because police were being called to solve disputes between the booters and booted.

The proposed amendment would have added language preventing booting companies from restricting or towing cars without a specific, case-by-case request from an apartment owner/manager or law enforcement officer.

The law currently allows booters to restrict any vehicle, at any time, that is not properly marked with a parking permit in an authorized lot.

READ REXBURG’S BOOTING AND TOWING ORDINANCE.

“We want to change that,” Woodland told the Post Register in 2014. “Often, it’s when there is lots of spaces in parking lots … and they love it when parents come into town with their college kids; we have visitors coming to Rexburg every semester, and they get nailed and it’s not right.”

But Woodland’s initiative failed. City Council members killed the proposal on a 4-1 vote following a lengthy public hearing.

During the hearing, many BYU-Idaho students complained about unfair booting and the lack of sufficient visitor parking at student apartment complexes.

But apartment owners defended their right to hire a booting companies to patrol lots. They also said it was unrealistic for owners or managers to approve every boot. From the Idaho Falls Post Register:

“We try to accommodate and we try to be nice, but we still need to have our parking for our students and our visitors,” apartment owner Lisette Meynders said. “And this is a life lesson, you’re in university — you know you shouldn’t do it — so don’t park illegally.”

In the end, the City Council echoed its previous sentiments and decided it didn’t have the right to interfere with private companies.

“I can’t stand the term ‘predatory towing,’” Benfield said at the 2014 hearing. “It is a business, and it serves a purpose for the apartment owner. Obviously, there are still things that need to be worked through, but I’m not prepared to change it.”