I saw an article in a towing magazine about that case. First thing to
remember is that incident happened in Texas. Texas has some very liberal gun
laws. In most states, if you shoot at someone and you life is not in
immediate danger, you're going to be in a real heap of shit. Especially if
you wound or kill them. Now, all you Texas guys, I'm not knocking Texas. I
think people should have a right to defend their personal property. I'm just
saying that if I , here in Connecticut, shot at someone who was trying to
steal my truck, I would be seriously "F**KED", even if I completely missed
(highly unlikely).
--> Seems state law allows use of deadly force to protect ones life or
property. That includes repo wrecker drivers.
That is something that will eventually be battled out in court, unfortunately
someone will get shot for this to happen. The reason is this, when you buy a
vehicle with a loan, the loan company is listed as the lien holder, has your
signature on a binding contract and has possession of the vehicle's title.
Legally, it's their vehicle until the loan is paid off and you take possession
of the title. A repo man is a contracted agent of the loan company and is
recovering the loan company's property, not yours. Is he trespassing? Yes!
Is he stealing? No! Most state governments, won't allow a loop hole in the
law that allows you to kill someone for trespassing. That may not be the case
currently in Texas, but some anti gun nuts will eventually get that changed.
As for myself, First off, I wear a vest. Doesn't eliminate the danger but
increases my chances of survival should I get into a problem. Second, I carry
a gun also. Who would be less wrong in the eyes of a jury. The guy defending
his car or the guy defending his life. Third, In 13 years, I've only been
shot at once, and it wasn't while towing a car. I stumbled upon a robbery in a
convenience store, (just my luck, I was unarmed at the time).
Walter_Felix@MSN.COM
88' Dodge Dakota Sport 4x4.
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/9219
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@buffnet4.buffnet.net On Behalf Of jim miller
Sent: Monday, May 04, 1998 9:47 PM
To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net
Subject: Re: DML: RE: Towing a Dakota
I wonder if you saw an article on TV a few months ago about wrecker drivers
getting shot at in Texas. Seems state law allows use of deadly force to
protect
ones life or property. That includes repo wrecker drivers. I don't know if
any
repo drivers have been killed but I do know many have had their wreckers shot
up
pretty bad trying to remove a veichle from private property and the law will
usually protect the property owner. I used to drive a wrecker in the 70s and
my
boss would not let us repo for anybody because of the laws here in Texas.
Kind of
scary. Causes repo drivers to charge very high rates to leinholders to take
the
risk. Of course the leinholders charges the cost back to the loan anyway. I
am
going to pay cash fir my Dak when it arrives so if I see mine on a wrecker
it'll
be broke down or stolen!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:08:46 EDT