Police-impersonating tow truck company leads to charge for Mississauga man, OPP says

Police have charged a Mississauga man after a tow truck driver allegedly passed as a cop to get business in an Ontario town.

The OPP says the incident happened following a crash in April on Highway 17 in Machin, approximately 45 kilometres west of Dryden.

A tow truck driver who arrived at the scene of the crash was not from a towing company that had been dispatched by officers, police say.

An investigation revealed that the tow company had “impersonated law enforcement” to get sent to the scene instead of the company originally dispatched by police.

The OPP says Sukhwinder Dhesi, 41, of Mississauga, has been charged with personating a peace officer.

The accused is scheduled to make a court appearance in Dryden on Jan. 20.

In June 2020, the province established a towing task force to increase safety and enforcement while improving industry standards in response to “concerns about violence and criminal activity in the industry.”

Earlier this month, police in Hamilton said a pair of tow truck companies were under investigation for alleged “predatory business practices.”

Ontario’s new Towing and Storage Safety Enforcement Act (TSSEA) came into effect this year with a new provincial program for the towing and vehicle storage industry, taking control of oversight and licensing from individual municipalities.

If you need a tow truck while driving on the 401 you can call 511 for a tow truck through the province’s Tow Zone pilot project, or dial *OPP for service elsewhere in Ontario.