(1) (a) No person shall abandon any motor vehicle upon public property. Any sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff, police officer, marshal, Colorado state patrol officer, or agent of the Colorado bureau of investigation who finds a motor vehicle that such officer has reasonable grounds to believe has been abandoned shall require such motor vehicle to be removed or cause the same to be removed and placed in storage in any impound lot designated or maintained by the law enforcement agency employing such officer.
(b) If an operator is used by the responsible law enforcement agency to tow or impound the motor vehicle pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (1), the operator shall be provided with written authorization to possess the motor vehicle on a document that includes, without limitation, the year, make, model, vehicle identification number, and storage location.
Whenever any sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff, police officer, marshal, Coloradostate patrol officer, agent of the Colorado bureau of investigation, or agency employee finds a motor vehicle, vehicle, cargo, or debris, attended or unattended, standing upon any portion of a highway right-of-way in such a manner as to constitute an obstruction to traffic or proper highway maintenance, such officer or agency employee is authorized to cause the motor vehicle, vehicle, cargo, or debris to be moved to eliminate any such obstruction; and neither the officer, the agency employee, nor anyone acting under the direction of such officer or employee shall be liable for any damage to such motor vehicle, vehicle, cargo, or debris occasioned by such removal. The removal process is intended to clear the obstruction, but such activity should create as little damage as possible to the vehicle, or cargo, or both. No agency employee shall cause any motor vehicle to be moved unless such employee has obtained approval from a local law enforcement agency of a municipality, county, or city and county, the Colorado bureau of investigation, or the Colorado state patrol.
The operator shall be responsible for removing the motor vehicle and the motor vehicle debris from the site pursuant to this section, but shall not be required to remove or clean up any hazardous or commercial cargo the motor vehicle carried. The commercial carrier shall be responsible for removal or clean-up of the hazardous or commercial cargo.
Source: L. 2002: Entire part amended with relocations, p. 470, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2009: (1) amended and (3) added, (HB 09-1279), ch. 170, p. 763, § 2, effective August 5.