By Megan James

Michael Kaye parked his car in the Key Food lot last Tuesday, ran across the street to an ATM and returned minutes later to find his car had been towed.

He’d come to buy a lottery ticket in Cappy’s Card Shop, one of the stores listed on the metal sign bolted to the entrance of the lot. Stepping into Cappy’s he realized he didn’t have any cash, so he walked across the street to CVS, where he noticed he’d forgotten his wallet altogether. Suspecting he left it in the car, Mr. Kaye headed back to the parking lot only to find his car was gone.

That’s when he noticed the man on a cell phone standing by the entrance to the lot. Minutes later he saw a tow truck pull in and take away another car.

Mr. Kaye isn’t the only Riverdalian in the last couple weeks who has forked over $108 to Riverdale Towing and Collision after parking in the Key Food lot.

Marilyn Feldman parked her brand new car in a handicapped spot — her handicapped sticker on display — at the lot last week. She did part of her shopping at Key Food, then walked across the street to run a few more errands.

She’d been gone a little over half an hour when she returned to finish her shopping at Key Food — she always buys her perishables last — but by then, her car was gone.

The Key Food manager gave Mrs. Feldman the phone number for Riverdale Towing and Collision and called a taxi for her and her husband. They found the car parked with its front against a fence and scratches on its back, Mrs. Feldman said.

The Feldmans used a credit card to pay the tow company, took their car and left.

“It’s not the idea of the money, it’s the idea that for the short time I was there, in a handicapped parking spot, someone was watching me,” Mrs. Feldman said.

According to George Constantinedes, the manager of the tow company, the property owner recently hired a maintenance crew to watch the lot and make sure people only shop at the stores on the property.

But this has some unsuspecting shoppers up in arms.