Calvin Barry

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Tow truck owner 'just trying to run his business'
By DON PEAT

The owner of a towing company that had a rig set ablaze on Saturday is just trying to run a business, his lawyer said yesterday.

Calvin Barry, speaking on behalf of Downtown Towing owner John Long, called the fire in front of Ryerson University -- the second company truck burned -- troubling.

"It's hard to comment because it's being investigated and the last one is before the courts," Barry told the Sun.

"It's unfortunate when you're trying to run a business and you have to deal with these issues."

The truck, which Barry said is likely a write-off, was parked in the Bond and Dundas Sts. area Saturday.

Toronto Police said they were called by a security guard who spotted the flames around 6:40 a.m. No arrests have been made.

'JUSTICE' SOUGHT

"(Long) is just trying to run his business and he just hopes that the police find out who the perpetrator is and that they are brought to justice," Barry said.

"It's unfortunate and hopefully police will get to the bottom of it and bring the accused person to justice."

Barry refused to comment on who he thought was responsible for the attack.

"It wouldn't be fair to comment because we would compromise the ongoing police investigation," he said.

Downtown Towing was awarded one of the lucrative towing contracts by the Toronto Police Services Board last year.

The board began a review of that contract earlier this year after Long was charged with fraud over $5,000 and two counts of uttering a forged document.

"He'll be completely exonerated and we're in the process of working that out as we speak," Barry said.

Anyone with information about the tow truck fire is asked to call detectives at 51 Division at 416-808-5104.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2009/07/14/10123271-sun.html#print