Chattanooga, TN – 11 February, 2020 – The jury sat riveted and taking notes, listening to the vandalism and aggravated assault case involving the infamous, YouTube blasted, 2018 baseball bat attack on a Chattanooga Repossession Agent by Cathleen Reeves. Watching videos of the incident, laced with profanity, there was little doubt to what she did, but much alluded to this being a wrongful repossession on a Santander loan.
Prosecutor, Leslie Longshore, reported to the jury and Criminal Court Judge Tom Greenholtz, that “On that date, he repossessed Reeves’ vehicle. He located the car, and then went to work. And that’s when Ms. Reeves’ comes out, and she is angry. Angry that her car is being repossessed. She uses a bat to beat the truck and smash the windows, while the man is simply trying to do his job.”
Reeves defense attorney, Erinn O’Leary, attempted to impress upon the jury, the monset of Reeves, who believed that she was merely defending her property from a wrongful repossession. And accordingly, in the eyes of her client, Reeves, all that she saw was a strange man trying to break into her car.
“’My car bill is paid,’ you think to yourself, ‘This is theft,’” stated O’Leary. “The laws of Tennessee give us the ability to defend our property. Ms. Reeves did what was immediately necessary to stop him from driving away with her property.”
The repossession agent who was attempting the repossession advised that he received the order with no knowledge of anything about the person whose vehicle he was assigned to repossess, advising that the company he worked with had a no-contact policy. Soon after receiving the order from the forwarding company, who assigned it for their client, Santander Bank, he located the car in the Forest Cove Apartments, where Ms. Reeves resided.
The agent testified that he had just successfully lifted the car onto his wheel lift when Ms. Reeves ran out of the apartment demanded that he stop. In two videos presented in court, Reeves could be seen screaming “Stop!”, “Put my car down!” and “The car is paid for!” Followed by Reeves then going to the back of the car while the repossessor went into his truck, locking the doors.
The repossession agent stated that “She pulled out a baseball bat and started bashing it on the truck. It was unexpected. So she starts swinging from the passenger to drivers side. Before I could even blink, she was smashing out the window, and I had to jump to the passenger side.”
The agent testified that when Ms. Reeves finally stopped, he crawled back into the driver’s seat and let her car down before driving to a nearby apartment complex ad calling police.
“It was crazy, scary, and too much was going on at this moment,” he said. “I needed to get somewhere safer and regain composure. I had to call police and call my bosses and let them know what happened.”
The repossession agent testified to the defense attorney, O’Leary, that he did his job, and had no way of knowing if the bank had made an error. His boss, Scott Moore, confirmed this, saying that his workers get orders, and they have no way of knowing anything about the people they are repossessing items from.
“It’s a private matter to the bank and the consumer,” said Mr. Moore. “As agents, we have a specific job. We go and pick up the car. There’s no reason to believe the car was recovered in error.”
Two neighbors testified, corroborating the victim’s story. One of them called police after witnessing the act, saying “I saw a woman attacking a tow truck with a baseball bat, and I thought someone could be hurt.”
“I was on my patio and my YouTube video ended and I heard a noise, a commotion, a ruckus,” testified the other neighbor. “The tow truck driver was prepping it, and this lady was shouting ‘My truck is paid for!’ She popped the trunk and produced a bat, and then broke the passenger window and bashed out the driver’s side.”
Oddly, when responding officer Shane Martin met with the repossession agent, who he found injured with a cut on his nose, he considered charging the repossession agent with theft and criminal trespass because he had a work order and not an order from the bank or court.
Martin then testified to prosecutor Longshore, that he had later discovered that in the state of Tennessee, something can be repossessed with a work or repossession order without a bank or court order. He said he spoke with the auto board and repossession board before making a decision.
“I guess I don’t understand the difference between a work order and a repossession order,” stated officer Martin.
Following officer Martrin’s testimony, Judge Greenholtz excused the court the night advising both prosecutor and defense to consider whether or not they desired to bring forth additional witnesses. If the state has no more witnesses, they will rest their case.The trial resumes on the 12th of February 9am.
Source: The Chattanoogan
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