New York ( CNN ) -- For one New Yorker , the journey to the Pearly Gates involved a detour to the city 's car pound . On Monday , the New York City Police Department towed an illegally parked van carrying a body . The van , parked outside Redden 's Funeral Home on West 14th Street , was to transport the body to Newark for a flight . Calls and e-mails Friday about the towing to funeral director Paul DeNigris yielded no response . But according to the New York Daily News , DeNigris said he went inside the funeral home to get paperwork and answer a phone call . When he returned , the van was gone -- along with the body that was in a white cardboard box , the newspaper said . `` I was just a wreck , '' he told the newspaper . `` I was frantic . When something like that happens , you go into panic mode . '' DeNigris recovered the van about 90 minutes later , stuck in vehicular purgatory -- the city 's pound . The police waived the towing fee , $ 185 , to expedite the vehicle 's release , said Paul Browne , deputy commissioner of public information for the police . Police described the van as an unmarked 2002 Dodge with tinted windows . The first ticket was issued at 9:22 a.m. Three hours later , it was towed , police officials said . Browne said DeNigris should ask himself why he left a body unattended in an unmarked van , parked illegally for nearly three hours . `` What if the van had had been stolen instead of towed ? '' he asked in an e-mail to CNN . `` Should n't he or someone from the funeral home staff have stayed with the body ? '' Randy McCullough , deputy director of the New York State Funeral Directors Association , said the state has no rule in place that requires signage to indicate a funeral van . Hearses may be synonymous with funerals , but minivans and sport utility vehicles often transport bodies , too , said Jessica A. Koth , public relations manager for the National Funeral Directors Association . She called the situation in New York `` exceedingly rare . ''
Car parked illegally outside funeral home for three hours , police say . Funeral director tells police he had to get paperwork , make phone call . Body was to be taken to airport for an airplane flight .