A towing company is defending it practices after a big fight over a disabled parking spot in downtown Portland. That fight had a grandma standing in front of a tow truck as it idled... making sure it couldn't leave the parking lot of the downtown Post Office, to keep her car from being towed away.

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The situation all started over this parking spot.

The Post Office pays Retriever Towing to patrol its downtown lot, making sure no one parks where they're not supposed to. Late on Friday, a tow truck driver, on his normal rounds, thought he caught a violator in a disabled spot. When he tried to tow the car, the fight was on.

"He said he would only put it down if I gave him $200 because my handicapped thing wasn't displayed," said grandma Sara Graham. She suffers from emphysema, so she parked in the disabled spot as she stopped at the Post Office with her son, helping him apply for a new Passport. When the two went inside, a Retriever Towing driver, on his assigned patrol, hooked-up her car.

Sara's son, John Graham, ran out when he saw what was going on. He said, "I saw him towing the car, and I said, she has a handicapped thing. He said it's not displayed. I said, well let me display it. He said okay, display it and I'll put the car down."

Sara had forgotten to put her placard in the window. But when she presented it, the tow truck driver didn't give up.

"He wouldn't put the car down," John said. "And he said, now I need $195."

Sara said, "Got my handicapped thing out of the door, put it up, and the guy wouldn't put it down."

Retriever Towing's President, Gary Coe, told NewsChannel 8 the driver did what he was supposed to do. "She should have had it in her car and did not."

As for why he asked for payment to release the car, Coe said the driver was merely trying to recover his cost. "He has gone through the expense of patroling, and hooking it up, so he charges a drop fee," Coe said.

The Post Office's public relations officer, Ron Anderson, went as far as to plead with the driver to release Sara's car. He told Sara that he, "Came out and immediately asked the tow truck driver to put your vehicle down. And he wouldn't do it."

Eventually Portland Police officers convinced the tow truck driver to relent. He drove off without comment.

"I think this is ridiculous," Sara said. "My son asked him what would you do if your mother made a mistake like this. He said she'd have to pay. Poor mother."

Still, the tow company says the driver was just doing his job. The company originally said it would send the drop fees to a collection agency. But when NewsChannel 8 talked to the President, he said he would drop all the fees.

The key lesson: don't forget that placard.