Getting a Porsche out of a ravine is difficult enough without someone ordering the tow crew to stop. Pepe’s Towing says its operators traveled up Angeles Crest Highway with a 75-ton rotator to recover a Porsche 911 GT3 RS that had crashed hundreds of feet below the road.
Video from the operation shows the crew encountering resistance from a uniformed official whom the company described as a park ranger. Things quickly escalate into an argument.
Pepe’s characterized the confrontation as a power trip and said law enforcement had requested the recovery, so the towing company did not understand why the ranger was trying to halt progress.
The footage documents the disagreement but does not provide context for what caused the accident or why the park ranger was trying to stop the retrieval.
The Porsche Landed Hundreds of Feet Below the Highway
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The crash happened on Angeles Crest Highway on July 24. Mike Leum, an assistant director of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue Program, reported that the Porsche went approximately 300 feet over the side.
Leum said the driver suffered moderate injuries and was transported by LASD Air Rescue 5. The Sheriff’s Department identifies Leum as a leader within its Search and Rescue Program.
Pepe’s Says Police Requested the Recovery
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Pepe’s said the job came through a law-enforcement rotation rather than from someone at the company independently deciding to retrieve the car. According to the towing company, a police officer remained at the scene while the crew established its roadside work area and began hiking down the slope. The officer then left, which Pepe’s said is not unusual during its recoveries.
The company brought a 75-ton rotating wrecker nicknamed “Big Flipper” approximately 40 miles up Angeles Crest Highway for the job. A rotator can position its boom independently of the truck, allowing a crew to lift or pull a vehicle from terrain that an ordinary tow truck could not safely reach.
The Ranger Disputed the Roadside Operation
The company accused the ranger of trying to shut down the recovery despite the crew having been dispatched by law enforcement. The video shows a tense exchange involving the official and members of the towing operation.
Jurisdiction along Angeles Crest Highway is also more complicated. The road passes through Angeles National Forest, but the Forest Service says State Route 2 is not managed or maintained by the agency. Caltrans identifies Angeles Crest Highway as California State Route 2.
Pepe’s ultimately completed the recovery and brought the badly damaged car back to the roadway.
The $250,000 Value Came From the Towing Company
Pepe’s identified the wrecked car as a used 2020 Porsche 911 GT3 RS and estimated that it could have sold for approximately $250,000 before the crash.
The market benchmark for a 991-generation GT3 RS built between 2018 and 2020 is approximately $241,500, according to Classic.com‘s collection of sales and listing data. Actual values can change substantially based on mileage, options, condition and ownership history.
The model was expensive for a reason. Porsche’s official history of the 991 generation describes the GT3 RS as having a racing-derived chassis and a naturally aspirated 4.0-liter engine producing 520 metric horsepower.