When emergency responders arrived at a Mississauga intersection in December to help people involved in a collision, the last thing anyone expected was a second disaster barreling toward them at high speed. Yet that is exactly what happened, and it was not caused by bad weather, mechanical failure, or anything beyond sheer recklessness. Two tow truck drivers, apparently in a race to claim a tow job, allegedly turned an already dangerous scene into something far worse.
The incident occurred on the night of December 18, 2025, at the intersection of Mavis Road and Queensway, where Peel Regional Police officers and other first responders had already set up to assist those involved in an earlier collision. What should have been a routine, if stressful, emergency response became something far more chaotic when two tow trucks came careening into the active scene.
According to Peel Regional Police, one of the trucks actually struck a vehicle that was already part of the original crash. The other truck came close enough to an officer and a nearby pedestrian that police described it as a “narrow” miss. Both drivers then took off, fleeing the scene at high speed, which added a hit-and-run dimension to what was already a deeply troubling situation.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported from the second incident, which is arguably more remarkable than anything else about this story. Given the circumstances, a very different outcome was very much on the table. Police conducted extensive canvassing and tracked down CCTV footage from the surrounding area, which showed both trucks speeding through residential streets, blowing stop signs, and running red lights before arriving at the scene. Two 30-year-old Mississauga men were subsequently identified and arrested.
What Exactly Are the Charges?
The charges stacked up quickly once investigators identified the two men. Both face counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop after an accident, and fleeing a police officer. On top of that, each was charged with failing to stop at a stop sign and performing a stunt while operating a motor vehicle.
Because both men were working as tow truck operators at the time, additional industry-specific charges were also laid. Each was charged with failing to comply with prescribed requirements and standards, as well as engaging in a prohibited practice under regulations governing tow truck operations in Ontario. That last category of charges is significant because it signals that this is not simply a reckless driving matter. It is also a professional misconduct issue with consequences beyond the criminal courts.
What Is “Freebooting” and Why Is It Dangerous?
What these two drivers allegedly engaged in has an informal name in the towing industry: freebooting, or more commonly, “bandit towing.” It refers to tow truck operators who monitor police scanners or otherwise race to crash scenes hoping to claim vehicles before a dispatcher-assigned truck arrives. The practice is not just unsavory, it is genuinely dangerous, and Ontario has been trying to crack down on it for years.
The financial incentive is real. Towing a vehicle after a collision can be lucrative, especially if the driver also has a relationship with a particular storage yard or auto shop. That profit motive, however, creates a race-to-the-bottom dynamic where speed matters more than safety. The result, as seen here, is tow truck operators treating residential streets like a qualifying lap and active police scenes like a parking lot.
Ontario introduced tighter regulations around the towing industry in recent years specifically because of concerns about predatory and dangerous practices. The fact that charges related to those regulations were part of this case suggests the province’s framework is at least giving authorities something to work with when incidents like this occur.
How Did Police Catch Them?
Despite both drivers fleeing the scene, investigators did not have to work blind. Peel Regional Police conducted what they described as significant canvassing of the area around Mavis Road and Queensway. That on-the-ground work paid off when CCTV footage from nearby cameras was located.
The footage reportedly showed both trucks driving at high rates of speed through residential areas on their way to the scene, which means investigators had evidence of dangerous behavior even before the drivers reached the police perimeter. Running stop signs and traffic lights in a residential neighborhood is not a minor infraction when you are doing it behind the wheel of a commercial tow truck. The footage gave police a clear timeline and enough visual evidence to identify and subsequently arrest both men.
Police are still asking anyone with additional information about the incident to contact investigators at Peel Regional Police’s 11 Division CIB at 905-453-2121, extension 1133, or to reach out to Crime Stoppers anonymously.
What Can We Learn From This Incident?
There is a tempting instinct to treat this story as a quirky outlier, the kind of thing that sounds almost too chaotic to be real. Two tow truck drivers racing to a crash scene and crashing into a police scene sounds like the setup to a bad joke. But the underlying problem it illustrates is neither rare nor funny.
The towing industry in Canada, and particularly in Ontario, has faced growing scrutiny over predatory practices. Consumers have complained for years about inflated rates, unauthorized vehicle removal, and exactly the kind of reckless scanner-chasing behavior on display here. Regulatory reforms have helped, but enforcement remains a challenge when the financial incentives to cut corners are this strong.
For everyday drivers, this incident is a useful reminder to report dangerous tow truck driving when you see it. Peel Regional Police specifically called on the public to do exactly that, directing non-emergency reports to Road Watch and emergency situations to 911. The towing industry serves a genuinely important function, but that function depends on operators who take the responsibility seriously. When they do not, the consequences can reach far beyond a missed tow job.