Portland's AAA branch has officially ended its contract with A&B Towing, a local tow company owned by a man who successfully used his ties with local law enforcement to retaliate against an employee.

"We had only worked with them a dozen times in 2019," said Dave Lear, AAA Portland's vice president of automotive services, in an interview with the Mercury. "But we completely severed the contract last week."

According to court records first published by the Oregonian last week, A&B owner Eric Benson was irritated that his employee Michael Fesser, a Black man, had raised concerns about racist harassment from coworkers at the Southeast Portland towing company. In response, Benson called on his friends at the West Linn Police Department (WLPD) to investigate Fesser on baseless allegations that Fesser stole from A&B towing. Despite having no evidence to support the allegations, WLPD—with assistance from Portland Police Bureau and the Multnomah County District Attorney's office—successfully charged and indicted Fesser.

Those charges were only dropped after Fesser filed a civil rights lawsuit against West Linn, which recently settled in a $600,000 payout to Fesser. None of the officers involved in the incident (several of which were discovered to have sent racist text messages about Fesser during the investigation) were charged.

Only after the Oregonian reported on the scathing two-year saga did local, state, and national lawmakers demand an investigation into how local law enforcement handled the incident. Last week, the City of Portland announced it was working to sever its contract with A&B towing.

Lear told the Mercury AAA's Portland branch severed its contract on February 13. Lear declined to comment on why the company decided to end its working relationship with A&B.