Screwed?

[CRSIII]

http://www.telegram.com/article/20090108/NEWS/901080760

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Car owner charged with threatening repo man with gun

By Kim Ring TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF



1 comment | Add a comment







LEICESTER — A repo man who went to a Leicester home shortly before 3 a.m. Monday morning was allegedly forced at gunpoint to offload the car.

According to court documents, Alexander Brundige, 38, of 29 Beech St., Leicester, confronted George Griffin, who was on his back on the ground hooking chains to a car he had been hired to repossess from outside Mr. Brundige’s home.

Mr. Griffin allegedly told police that Mr. Brundige pointed a gun, which police later discovered was a loaded Glock .22 with a round in the chamber, at his head and told him to unhook the car. Mr. Griffin told police he complied.


Mr. Griffin’s girlfriend, who was with him, called police, who could hear some of the conversation in the background, including what sounded like Mr. Griffin saying he’d take the car off the tow truck. Officer Frank T. Bulman went to the house in time to see Mr. Brundige go inside. When he came back out, police frisked him, then went inside with him and retrieved the gun. Police said he told the officer he thought the car was being stolen and donned his winter boots, got the gun from a safe, loaded it and went outside. He said he did not have time to call police.

Mr. Brundige was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and armed robbery. Because the car was being repossessed, it was not considered to be his property, the police report indicates.

Police were instructed by Chief James J. Hurley to seize the gun and Mr. Brundige’s pistol permit.

Mr. Brundige was arraigned Tuesday and released on $5,000 cash bail. He will be back in court on Feb. 24 for a pretrial hearing.

What do you think?

 

[Pilgrim]

I suspect worse has happen to repo men.

 

[CRSIII]

I think he is now "unsuitable"?
Out in the driveway with a gun to confront a tow truck operator/repo man? Did he really think it was being stolen?
He is now part of the tiny percetile of lawfull gun owners that commit gun crimes.

 

[scouter-rick]

He should have called 911 and reported that he believed his car was being stolen. If he then held the guy there till Police responded without threatening him perhaps the car would still be taken but he would not be in deep fecal matter.

My 2 cents.

 

[Rockrivr1]

Repo people must get paid some good money to be risking their lives on a nightly basis like that. I agree with Pilgrim. I bet that happens to them a LOT.

 

[mark056]

Since there was no crime of violence and no one was in fear of their lives, there was no reason to pull a gun on the repo man. Like the Pilgrim says, the repo man probably has had worse things done to him.

Unfortunately incidents like these do not bode well for us gun owners and only tend to reinforce media stereotypes of us being trigger happy clowns.

Mark L.

 

[Ripach]

I think he is now "unsuitable"?
Out in the driveway with a gun to confront a tow truck operator/repo man? Did he really think it was being stolen?

+1 in this state he will be lucky if all that happens is he is found to be unsuitable. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume he knew he hadn't been paying the bill, got pissed when they came to take it, and acted with extremely poor judgement. I could be wrong though, maybe he really believes that car thieves show up with wreckers.

BTW, in Bristol county would he be held without bail due to a dangerousness hearing?

 

[center442]

From the movie:

"A repo man spends his life getting into tense situations."

 

[M1911]

I've got insurance on my truck. $1000 deductible, IIRC. That would get me, at best, about 4 hours of a lawyer's time.

If someone is outside stealing my truck, I'll stay inside and dial 911. I'm not going outside to confront them. The truck isn't worth my life.

 

[SteelShooter]

I don't have any first hand experience, but I would imagine that you probably know your car is going to get repo'd before it actually happens or at the very least the possibility of it happening. I would also think the repo guy has some sort of paperwork with him. And if he hasn't fulfilled his obligations long enough for it to get repo'd, maybe he would want it to get stolen! This guy is screwed.

 

[wolf223]

holy crap....

 

[Neptune Cat]

What's a Glock .22?

 

[Admin]

I think he is now "unsuitable"?
Out in the driveway with a gun to confront a tow truck operator/repo man? Did he really think it was being stolen?

In California they steal cars ALL THE TIME LIKE that...

He had some reason to believe it was being stolen. However in order for it to be repo'd I would imagine you have to be behind months and months of payments.

If I honestly thought my car was being stolen by a criminal you can best bet your ass I would have a gun drawn when I confront the BG.

 

[Gaffer]

Does not speak well for gun owners if they are not keeping up with the car payments. If he had lost his job etc. he should have known that he was going to have is MV repo'd at some point. This is the kind of dude that we do not want in our fraternity, I would say.

 

[BCEagleAce]

Dumb, dumb and more dumb... let's assume you thought "your" car that you have obviously defaulted on was being stolen when you are awoken from your sleepy state... by the time you get downstairs and over to the guy who is clearly operating a tow truck, I think you lose claim to the story that you think it is being stolen.

 

[TonyD]

I've got insurance on my truck. $1000 deductible, IIRC. That would get me, at best, about 4 hours of a lawyer's time.

If someone is outside stealing my truck, I'll stay inside and dial 911. I'm not going outside to confront them. The truck isn't worth my life.

Good to know, where do you live?

 

[Admin]

Dumb, dumb and more dumb... let's assume you thought "your" car that you have obviously defaulted on was being stolen when you are awoken from your sleepy state... by the time you get downstairs and over to the guy who is clearly operating a tow truck, I think you lose claim to the story that you think it is being stolen.

Again no you don't. Cars are stolen all the time on the back of a flatbed, or a tow truck.

 

[zzrider]

Hmm. We have to assume the guy new he was in default. If you know you're in default and the repoman is coming, why would you really care if it got stolen vs. repo'd?

IMO, the guy is a dumbass and just performed a big disservice to lawful gunowners.

 

[CRSIII]

Again no you don't. Cars are stolen all the time on the back of a flatbed, or a tow truck.

So, are you saying this guy was not a liability to us all?

 

[Admin]

So, are you saying this guy was not a liability to us all?

Where the hell did I say that?

If I went out there with a gun and stopped a repo man I would be in the right because the repo would have been
a mistake by Toyota.

This guy "should have" know his car was going to get repo'd. Did he know? Was it bought from a shady used car
dealership that repo's after two months??? WE DON'T KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[M1911]

Good to know, where do you live?

In Wayland. Police response here is less than 3 minutes. Think you can get my 4Runner onto a flat bed in less than 3 minutes?

In MA you can not use deadly force to protect property. If you go outside waving your gun around without being able to articulate a threat of death or grave bodily injury, you may find yourself in very serious legal jeopardy.

Finally, the fact that I am a good guy and have a gun does not necessarily mean that I will prevail in a confrontation. There may be more than one guy out there. He may have a gun as well. He may be better than me. Or just luckier. You want to risk your life for a $1000 deductible? Go ahead. Not me.

My gun is to protect me and mine. I can replace stuff.

 

[01SVTvert]

Tow trucks are used all the time to steal cars. Easier than getting keys as most cars have chipped keys and are hard to steal the "old fashioned way" . Best bet bring the portable phone out as you are armed and dial 911. Tell them your car is being stolen and you are outside. MAYBE then things go a little better. Telling the guy to put your car down, rather than telling him to lay on the ground with his hands on his head, to me, shows he wanted his car back from the repo, not to catch a thief.
Car was truly getting stolen the second person in the truck could have gotten out and killed the owner easy. No way would I bother risking my life for my insured car. Call 911, arm yourself and watch from inside IMO. As long as they dont come to the door or endanger my family I am waiting it out.

 

[CRSIII]

Delete

 

[CRSIII]

So, are you saying this guy was not a liability to us all?

A little different.

 

[Admin]

A little different.

Read my post again Carl, I edited it.

 

[Bill Nance]

I used to repo cars in SoCal. I later ran that repo agency. I cannot tell you how many times I have been shot at.

Clue to the dipshit who pulled the gun: Unless your car is a Ferrari, no one steals your car with a tow-truck.

Sadly we were specifically prohibited by California law to be armed while repoing cars. Else the incidents of a**h***s taking pot-shots at us would have been drastically reduced. Repossessing cars in Watts was exciting -At 22. After that it was more or less scary.

 

[Admin]

Clue to the dipshit who pulled the gun: Unless your car is a Ferrari, no one steals your car with a tow-truck.

What the hell are you talking about?

 

[CRSIII]

One thing is for damn sure: I'm glad I don't know this guy and I'm damn glad I didn't write the referal letter!

 

[Garys]

Police said he told the officer he thought the car was being stolen and donned his winter boots, got the gun from a safe, loaded it and went outside. He said he did not have time to call police

He had time to open his safe, load the weapon, put on his boots, but not to call 9-1-1?

I've never had a car repossessed, but I'm pretty sure that the company that holds the paper has to make more than one attempt to let the lendee know that he is in default.

Derek, even if it's by mistake, you probably aren't justified in drawing on the guy taking the truck. It's not his mistake and the way to correct it is to call the finance company. Even in New Hampshire, I think that would cause you some trouble with the police.

 

[terraformer]

Again no you don't. Cars are stolen all the time on the back of a flatbed, or a tow truck.

This is absolutely correct. It is a social engineering scam combined with theft. If you see a tow picking up a car in a parking lot or other place, you automatically do what BeagleAce did and assume it is legit. The problem is once you confer legitimacy onto the truck because of it's looks, you cease to think critically about it. This is why so many rapists will resort to things like utility uniforms and police impersonations.
Someone buys or steals a flatbed, repaints it with some bogus name and other commercial crap on the side complete with bogus lic ID #s and no one questions it. Classic Authentication, Authorization problem for those tech geeks out there.

PS: I am not condoning what this guy did. I have to assume he knew it was a repo and that is why he had him lower the vehicle. If he really thought it was a traditional theft (he probably sees repo as theft...), he would have called the cops and waited. I am just saying that if I had no belief the car was about to be repo'd, I would assume theft immediately.