A16 car from A1


this time police had not kept track ofwhere they hadmoved it. The Lexus was lost. District police searched for


the car for two hours Saturday night, circling the neighborhood again and again. Clinton, who is a travel consultant, and Gardine Tiggle, the friend who invited her to the dinner, waited at the spot immediately outside the


EZ SU


KLMNO


MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 What Lexus? After cars are moved for security, one goes missing.


convention center where Clinton had parked the Lexus. Clinton has the handicapped tag because her husband suffered a stroke. By 1:30 a.m., police had


searched a one-mile radius of the convention center and found not a trace of the car.


Police: ‘We don’t know’ Embarrassed about the miss-


ing vehicle, an officer called area hotels and helped Clinton find a


room for the night. On Sunday morning, police resumed the search. Still nothing. “We don’t know if it has been


lost or stolen,” said Lt. Jonathan Munk, of the 3rd District, who was supervising the search. “I was told the cars were relocated, but we don’t know. It could have been stolen.We just don’t know.” District police did not respond


to a reporter’s additional calls and e-mail requests for informa-


tion. The possibility that Clinton’s


car had been stolen before police relocated the group of parked cars — which could have ex- plainedwhy officers did not have a record of the car being moved — was pooh-poohed by Clinton and Tiggle. Itmade no sense that someone would steal an old Lexus parked in a high-traffic area swarming with police and Secret Service agents, they said.


Clinton said she accepted that


people in Washington are some- times inconvenienced by presi- dential security, and she said she’s okay with the idea, general- ly. But it seemed incomprehensi- ble to her that someone’s car could be lost as a result. “I can’t believe this,” Clinton,


64, a Maryland resident, said in an interview Sundaymorning. “I am the caregiver for my 95-year- old mother, whom I take to


church every Sunday. The police did not put a record of the car in the system. It’s a mess. . . . I am getting very upset.” Tiggle spent the night with


Clinton at a downtown hotel, and then on Sunday they called police, themayor’s office and the Secret Service. They said they were shuffled from one office to another in an endless rigmarole. “We have been told at least


four times that this is an issue they are having with several vehicles,” said Tiggle, speaking of the District police. “It is their responsibility. They moved it. They tell us, ‘Ifwe find the car’— not when we find the car — ‘we will call you. If we cannot find it in 30 days, you should call your insurance company.’ This is total- ly insane.” Clinton said police told her


that while the District’s tow trucksmight havemoved the car, the trucks are operated by civil- ians who are supposed to note the car’s license plate number and new location. That had not happened. Police also said they did not have a roster of tow-truck operators and therefore could not track down who moved the car. Police did not answer ques-


tions about how the process should normally work, but cars that are relocated and put into police records should not be difficult to find if a driver can provide police with a license plate number. Tiggle, a practitioner of medi-


tation, urged her friend to stay positive. But Tiggle also was embarrassed that it was her invitation that led to the car’s vanishing. With no change of clothes and


the batteries on their cellphones running low, Tiggle asked her husband to come down from their home in Mitchellville, Md., with supplies and cellphone chargers.


‘Visualize a black car’ When the police search failed


to produce the car by Sunday afternoon, Clinton called a re- porter to say her friend was driving her home. Tigglewas still urging a positive outlook. “Visualize a black car,” Tiggle


was saying repeatedly. “See your- self getting it back. Do it with emotion.” But Clinton had already


passed from dejection into de- spair. The police seemed disin- terested and had stopped return- ing her calls. The car, the pocket- book, and the diamond necklace were history. Tiggle’sGPS told her tomake a


right turn ontoNewYork Avenue NW. They were around the cor- ner from the convention center and about a block fromthe police building at 501 New York Ave. Suddenly, Tiggle burst out: “There it is!” “What?” Clinton asked, still on


the phone with a reporter. “The car, the black car!” “She found it!” Clinton ex-


claimed. The Lexus was in front of 628


New York Ave. NW, a half-block from the convention center. It had been parked — without any indication that law enforcement had left it there — in a no-park- ing zone. And it was right in front of a


fire hydrant. It had not been ticketed. “If you can’t find a carwithin a


block fromthe convention center —that youmoved—howare you going to find anyone else?” Tig- gle said a few moments after Clinton ensured that the dia- mond pendant and her pocket- book were still inside the car. “And put it in a tow zone in front of a fire hydrant?” An hour later, Clinton was


nearly home. She had not called police to report that her lost car had been found. Remembering how police had


stopped responding to her pleas —and considering the $165 hotel bill she had just footed — she fumed: “Let ’emkeep looking.” vedantams@washpost.com


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Car was parked here at 5:30 p.m. Saturday


Wash. Conv. Center


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F ST. MAP DATA: DC OCTO M.K. CANNISTRA/THE WASHINGTON POST


Car was found here Sunday afternoon


11TH ST. 10TH ST.


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