Over the Fence and Into the Wash

By George L. Nitti The call from Glendora Police came into Pasadena’s Jan’s Towing to recover a Subaru that had gone off the road, crashed through a fence behind a church, and landed sideways in a narrow concrete wash. Rick Martinez, supervisor with the company, was the first to arrive and assess the scene. With 38 years of experience, he was there to make sure the right equipment and people were called in. “I knew it was going to need a rotator and a rapelling specialist to get it out of there,” he said.  

To answer the call was tow operator Ron Wallace, the team’s go-to rapeller—nicknamed "Spider-Man" by his coworkers. “It was a tight space,” he said. “Basically had to go up and over the fence to get to the car.” Lifted in by the company’s rotator, Wallace rigged the overturned vehicle using straps wrapped through the rims. “Once we got it up, we rigged the other side so we could rotate it onto the flatbed.” It was a two-cable pull, performed with precision by lead operator Steve Coffee, who operated the rotator’s raptor controls. 

As for the Subaru—new, well-equipped, and “pretty tricked out” as Martinez described—was extracted with minimal additional damage. “We go out there with the road team for a reason,” said Martinez. “So we don’t cause any more damage. Insurance companies can salvage what they can, and the customer walks away knowing it was handled right.” 

Overseeing the heavy lifting was Steve Coffee, the lead heavy-duty operator who handled the rotator work with a 2024 Peterbilt 1150 Century Rotator. Coffee’s experience is the backbone of these kinds of jobs—rarely seen but always felt in the smooth arc of a vehicle rising from an impossible position to a safe landing on the bed. 

For a company like Jan’s Towing—with over 35 units in its fleet and a staff trained to exacting standards—this is more than just a job. “We don’t try to reinvent the wheel,” said Martinez. “But we do show them how owner Jan Quakenbush wants things done.” 

And how things were done on this day was a textbook example of professionalism, training, and trust in one another. 

Even in a tight channel, behind a church, beneath a fence, they made it look routine.