The War on the Repo Man

[marmar]

AP via Yahoo!:



Violence between repo men, car owners on the rise
By JAY REEVES, Associated Press Writer


HALSELL, Ala. – Alone in his mobile home off a winding dirt road, Jimmy Tanks heard a commotion at 2:30 a.m. just outside his bedroom window: Somebody was messing with his car.

The 67-year-old railroad retiree grabbed a gun, walked out the back door and confronted not a thief but a repo man and two helpers trying to tow off the Chrysler Sebring. Shots were fired, and Tanks wound up dead, a bullet in his chest.

The man who came to repossess the car, Kenneth Alvin Smith, is awaiting trial on a murder charge in a state considered a Wild West territory even by the standards of an industry that's largely unregulated nationally. Since Tanks' death last June, two other repo men from the same company Smith worked for were shot, one fatally.

"It's gotten to where it's a crazy world out there," said Smith, 50, an ex-Marine who preaches part-time and sings gospel music. Smith said Thursday that he fired in self-defense after Tanks fired a shot.

With the U.S. dealing with an economic slide that has cost millions of jobs, the number of vehicle repossessions is expected to rise 5 percent this year. That's after it jumped 12 percent to 1.67 million nationally in 2008, said Tom Webb, chief economist with Manheim Consulting, an automotive marketing firm. That followed a 9 percent increase in 2007, creating more opportunities for bad outcomes in an industry where armed confrontations and threats happen every day. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090227/ap_on_re_us/repo_violence

[MineralMan]

1. Dead over a car....very sad.

This middle-of-the night repo business has led to lots of this sort of violence. Surely there is a better way.

My neighbor across the street drives a tow truck for a repo business. I worry about him and his young family.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. I had a repo man arrested awhile back

He damaged the gate I have on the private road to my property. I called the sheriff as soon as that happened. I had no idea it was a repo man at the time. Its normally 30 minutes response out here but it was in the wee hours of a Sunday morning and that an armed homeowner was involved got one here much quicker. He was arrested for B&E (into an outbuilding), property damage, and resisting arrest. His sidekick fled and presumably walked out. I had his truck towed first thing in the AM.

He had the wrong place. Easy enough to do out here, but breaking the gate and breaking into the outbuilding placed him beyond any legal protections. Last I heard the county attorney is not trying to put him in jail just out of business. I am trying to get the reimbursed for the damage as court ordered victim compensation.

[lonestarnot]

3. Tee hee.

Cat on the dawg.