By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A funeral director who had stepped inside a funeral home on W. 14th Street came outside to find the NYPD had towed his minivan containing a body to the city's pound lot.
Funeral director Paul DeNigris emerged from at the Redden's Funeral Home on Monday afternoon to find that his minivan — and the corpse that lay inside it — had disappeared, the Daily News reported.
"I was frantic. When something like that happens, you go into panic mode," DeNigris told the paper.
The vehicle, which DeNigris had parked in a "No Parking Anytime" zone outside the funeral home, was ticketed at 9:22 a.m. and towed at 12:07 p.m., police told the News. He had gone inside to grab some paperwork and got delayed by a phone call, he said.
An hour and a half later, DeNigris recovered the car and his client from the city pound just in time for the body to be driven to Newark Liberty Airport and flown down to Miami for cremation, the News reported.
In the future, Redden's told the News that they will be putting signs in the minivan's rear and side windows to make it clear when their on official funeral business. Although the there was a sign in the car during Monday's incident, DeNigris told the News that it had fallen flat on the dashboard.
DeNigris added that he will be disputing the $115 parking ticket, the News said.
No Parking zones are implemented outside all funeral homes in the city.
