Winston-Salem, NC – January 23, 2013 – A routine personal property pick up at an auto auction turned sour as the borrower fled with the car, ran down the repossessor and forced another man, who chased him, off the road wrecking his tow truck.
Jason Derek Faulkner, 31, is facing multiple charges from the incident that began when two unnamed Repo Men agreed to meet him at Statesville Auto Auction.
While pretending to get property, Faulkner then allegedly started the car and attempted to drive away with it. The Repo Man attempted to stop the vehicle but was hit by the car’s bumper as the car pulled away.
The unnamed Repo Man suffered a broken leg and other injuries, and was transported and treated at Carolinas Medical Center.
But the incident didn’t stop there, another man in a tow truck (it is unknown if this is another Repo Man or merely a tow driver who witnessed the incident) began following Faulkner down out of the auction and out onto the highway into Statesville. The tow truck driver claims Faulkner forced him off the road, causing him to wreck his wrecker.
Deputies caught up to Faulkner and took him into custody. Faulkner is charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, larceny of a motor vehicle, and aggressive driving.
Faulkner was incarcerated in Iredell County on a $200,000 bond.
This is a good reason why personal property should be removed by the recovery company and inventoried and stored. But when lenders tell you what you can and cannot charge for this is what happens. These two were lucky. What if the guy had his gun under the seat and was really mad. Chasing a fleeing person is also just plain stupid. It appears the police caught him in a timely manner after the tow truck driver crashed instead of taking his injured partner to the hospital. Must have been afraid that he was going to lose his contingent fee if the customer got away.
You pretty much nailed it Steve. Why would anybody leave property in a car that is going to the auction? Maybe the guy was upset because all of his “stuff” was missing. That has a way of happening at the auction.
I think a contingent fee will make one do things we might not otherwise do. We should be paid for our work. However, there is NEVER a situation where the possibility of bodily harm (or any kind of harm) might be the result of the agents actions. Most of our clients insist that the personals be inventoried and separated from the unit. We did have a party follow us to the lot and make demand for his personals. (We had closed the gate behind him). He did clean out his personals but, then when he finished he threw the keys away. We also called the police. At least he thot we did. We let him out without further incident after advising him he would be billed for the locksmith bill and the new key. He then supplied the 2nd set.–