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Tow truck ripped tow hook off and destroyed bumper

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kxracer

Junior Member
I got stuck last night driving down an unplowed gravel road. I wouldn't have even tried to go down it but they quit plowing at the top of a hill. I topped the hill at around 40-50mph and hit like three snow drifts. They were hard enough that I stayed on top so it didn't do any damage. The problem is it sat out overnight because it got stuck about 1/2 mile down the road. I looked it all over and it all looked fine (checked the bumper to see if there was damage.....). A friend picked me up and gave me a ride.
This morning we went to pull it out, and there was a tow truck that was hooked up to it. It was gelled up so he couldn't pull it up. We told him not to because we didn't want to pay for it and he said to not worry about it. Another guy came and they got it running again. He loaded it onto the truck and said "you must have been going pretty fast to crack that bumper". I remember looking last night and it wasn't cracked. Also, it appears he must have already tried to pull it because one of my tow hooks is mysteriously missing and he had dug around the tire on the side that was missing a tow hook. Also, when he was scraping the back of his truck off, there were pieces of my bumper mixed with the snow that was on his truck. After closer examination, the lower part of the bumper isn't even cracked (where snow would have hit).
Now what I believe must have happened is he tried to pull the thing up with his winch when my truck was, sunk to the frame in snow, and in 4wd and park, ripping my tow hook off, and cracking my bumper as it came out. Because of the snow, he couldn't lower the flat bed all the way to the ground, which ment my tires had to climb a vertical wall (in 4x4 and park) to get on the truck. After he broke the tow hook off, he proceeded to dig around that side so he could get to the a-arm, when his truck died and we showed up.
We didn't really notice the hook until he was already on his way, and he brought up the bumper but I guess I thought maybe I missed something until I saw the pieces mixed in with the snow on his truck. An important note to add is there isn't any snow packed in where the cracks in the bumper are, and the side with the good tow hook isn't cracked, just the middle and to the side w/o the hook.
Now the problem is I'm the only one that saw the truck last night, and since I don't have any pics I don't know how I could prove it was fine. My dad was with me this morning and saw the lack of hook and messed up bumper pieces on his truck, but again we don't have pics there. I have a few I took at home, but not at the actual scene. Also, since he did it for 'free', we don't have any paperwork, although we do have a couple other people that saw his truck there hooked up to mine.
We have contacted him since then. He said he doesn't hook to tow hooks. He was hooked to the passenger side tow hook, and the a-arm on the drivers side when we got there. When we brought this up, he said he hooks to the frame to break it loose. If that was true, why would he crawl under it to unhook it from the frame and hook it to the tow hook and a-arm? I am so glad his truck died when it did, because I have no doubt in my mind that he would have ripped the other tow hook off, and/or bent my a-arm.
So, my question to you guys, is there anything I can legally do, or am out of luck since parts of it are my words against his? Thanks

pics of damage can be seen here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97762738@N00/sets/72157623058570115/
 
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