SUNRISE, FLA. (WSVN) - A man bonded out of jail on Monday night, hours after police say he towed a car parked at a restaurant in Sunrise that had a 4-year-old girl inside.
7News cameras captured Sergio Suarez walking out of the Broward County jail still wearing his towing uniform and not saying a word to the cameras about the charge against him.
Hours before he bonded out, Suarez made his first court appearance about what witnesses say was a terrifying tow that took another turn.
“This is one that stuck out to me this morning. He towed a vehicle, allegedly, without checking whether or not there was anyone in the vehicle,” said Broward judge Corey Friedman.
According to police, Suarez is accused of towing a car with a child inside on Sunday.
Detectives say the car was parked in front of the Bistro Creole restaurant in Sunrise.
A court document says the driver and father of the young girl parked the car for roughly two minutes and went inside. When he noticed his car was about to be towed, he ran outside to alert Suarez that his daughter was inside.
“He ran to the driver’s side window, banged on the window, and yelled multiple times that his daughter was inside the vehicle,” read the report.
The father then told responding officers that Suarez sped away, despite his continued yells to stop, leaving the parking lot with his young daughter in the car.
The report goes on to say the father chased the tow truck to the main road, yelling the entire time. Seconds later, he saw his daughter fall out of the car and onto the road.
That’s when the document says he “…immediately ran into traffic, picked up his daughter from the middle of West Oakland Park Boulevard and moved her to safety.”
Police said Suarez kept driving away, despite the girl falling out of the car and her father’s race to rescue her.
According to Sunrise Fire Rescue, the young girl suffered minor injuries to both of her arms and her right calf and was taken to Broward Health Medical Center for further evaluation.
Authorities called All-Ways Towing & Storage in Pembroke Park to have Suarez return to the area.
When Suarez returned, police say he tried to drop off the car away from them quickly and tried to flee.
But he wasn’t able to get far, as he was swiftly arrested and charged with child neglect without great bodily harm.
In bond court, Suarez’s defense attorney argued that this is not the whole story.
“He advised me he checked the vehicle three times before he towed it. There was no child inside. He also had a partner, whom he called the spotter. He had the spotter also look at the vehicle, and that’s why he said he doesn’t know how this came about,” said the attorney.
Suarez was told to avoid contact with the victim and refrain from driving until further notice.
7News reached out to the tow trucking company, but the person who answered the phone hung up.
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.