The Huntsville Times
Phantoms fans are already referring to it as “Towgate.”
Sports television personality Mandy Anderson on Thursday accused Huntsville Phantoms owner Vinnie Vitale of maliciously towing her 2039 Mercedes S-Class Coupe from a legal parking spot in front of The Opera House stadium.
“I was coming out of the team offices following an interview with Hakim Ogawa, one of their players who had just been traded, and I heard a truck rev up – and saw that it was a tow truck with my car attached,” Anderson said.
Mandy Anderson
Although Anderson said she yelled for the truck to stop, it immediately roared off down the street with her car trailing behind.
Anderson said the truck had a “South Side Towing” logo on the side, which is the name of Vitale’s Chicago-based tow truck company. Although the firm primarily operates in Illinois, South Side has helped enforce parking violations around the Opera House since Vitale bought the team last November.
“It’s a shame that Ms. Anderson could not abide by the very simple and reasonable parking ordinances around the Opera House,” Vitale said in a statement. “But, since she saw fit to park her vehicle in front of an expired meter, we had no choice but to enforce the regulations.”
Anderson fumed after reading that statement.
“I scanned my credit card at that meter and got two hours of parking,” she said. “I came out of the interview maybe 1 minute late. They must have been sitting by that meter just waiting for it to expire.”
Vittorio Mancini, a spokesman for Vitale, was unsympathetic.
“Vinnie wants the people of Huntsville to know that he does not show favoritism to Ms. Anderson or anyone else when it comes to the flagrant violation of our municipal parking ordinances,” Mancini said. “Ms. Anderson can pick up her car at any time from our impound lot – after paying the $279.95 towing fee, of course.”
Phantoms owner Vinne Vitale
Although Mancini stopped short of confirming that his employer was upset by the segment, he did reference it, while throwing in a demeaning reference to Huntsville:
“Vinnie wants it to be known that he would kick Mr. Saban’s butt in a fight,” Mancini said. “All due respect, Roll Tide, and all that other Hicksville B.S.”
Anderson scoffed at that.
“Well, maybe,” she said. “But now let’s see how he does against one pissed off lady sportscaster.”
