When Angelica Woods witnessed tow trucks at St. Louis City Towing allegedly taking cars out of the lot after hours, she was surprised that it went on for so long.
“We closed at 6 p.m. so I figured it had to be somebody from up top that was involved with it,” she said. “They were stealing cars the entire 10 months that I worked there.”
Woods started as a clerk typist at the Hall Street lot in April 2020 and subsequently became a dispatcher from 1:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at St. Louis City Towing.
“One thing I did see was a 2017 Toyota Corolla that was set aside on the back dock,” Woods told the St. Louis Record. “It was taken out of there for free. I actually have the paperwork on that and I reported it to the controller. One of the employees got that car.”
Woods further alleges that she began to experience retaliation after she questioned the practices she thought looked suspicious.
“We had individuals coming into the office, going through files with supervisors standing there watching and going through the key room looking for keys and going out looking at vehicles and they didn't work there,” Woods said in an interview.
The mother of two autistic sons was terminated in February a day after she appeared on Channel 5 as a whistleblower.
“Even though I was covered up at the time, they knew it was me because I had written something about it to the personnel department,” she said. “I filed a grievance on it.”
Woods has since filed a lawsuit in federal court against the City of St. Louis and Jamie Wilson, who was appointed the director of the City of St. Louis Street Department by former Mayor Lyda Krewson in 2017.
“The City cannot comment on pending litigation,” said Nick Dunne, a spokesman for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, the first African American woman to be elected mayor of St. Louis. She was sworn in on April 20.
Woods is asking for an award for damages due to lost wages and other benefits of employment, attorney’s fees related to her efforts to defend against wrongful termination and for emotional pain and suffering, mental anguish, inconvenience, humiliation, embarrassment, loss of enjoyment of life, stress, and loss of reputation.
“When a citizen speaks up about a matter of public concern and gets terminated as a result, they have First Amendment protection and then the city also has a whistleblower protection ordinance,” said Woods’ attorney Lynette M. Petruska.
Although an aldermanic committee is scheduled to review operations of the city tow lot, according to media reports, Petruska isn’t confident that it will have a direct impact on Woods’ lawsuit except to corroborate or support the claims.
“I know we have a change of administration and I'm hopeful that the change of administration will take this more seriously but you have three employees who have tried to bring these issues to the city's attention who have all been fired or moved and nothing has changed,” Petruska told the St. Louis Record. “So, I'm not overly optimistic that the city is effectively able to police itself.”