Random destructive rampage!

[pugo]

Here's a picture of the guy that did all the damage. He's still in jail, bond was $75,000 now it's $50,000.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

That's the guy, and the Jeep he was driving - also 1 of the Police Officers I dealt with.

I ended up not going to the guys court date after all, but have found out some more info since then. Yesterday I spoke with the local States Attorney and they told me what Pugo said: The guy was still in Jail and the bail is now $50,000. His charges at this moment are 4 Felony counts of intentional criminal damage, nothing was said to me yesterday about a Reckless driving charge at this point. He's also scheduled for Psychological evaluation before his next Court appearance on July 22, that Court appearance is supposed to be nothing more than a status update from what I was told. I was also told by someone last night that the Jeep the guy was driving supposedly wasn't even his - but at this point that's purely hear say and I don't know if it's accurate or not.

My truck has been at the body shop since last Tuesday morning (7-6-10), they already removed the bed and all the repair work has already been done to it. I'm also having a few other touch-ups done to the truck at the same time that I'm paying for as well, priming is scheduled for Monday and I will hopefully be able to pick it up Thursday or Friday (7-15/16-10).

[chaplain220]

Kinda scary when you realize just how many times a day callous rampages like this happen in our country.  We usually only hear about the big ones that kill folks, and it looks like that could have easily happened here, but because no one got nailed by this guy, it just gets a bit line in the press, you bear the brunt of his crimes through your own insurance, the courts will soon release him just like they keep lowering his bond, and everyone forgets that we have some serious moral issues on our streets and in our courts.  Glad you and no others were walking between the cars or in striking range when this happened. 

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

Glad you and no others were walking between the cars or in striking range when this happened.

I was talking with some friends a couple days ago and they brought up the subject of my Corvette getting hit several months prior to this (as I mentioned earlier). They were saying I was lucky I hadn't driven my car the day all this happened because the Jeep would have probably totaled my car (it's a 1987 I've owned for almost 20 years - not really worth all that much anymore). I commented that if I had been parked with the front of my car to the curb the Jeep most likely would have gone right over it (Dukes of Hazard style!) due to the height difference between the parking lot and the grass he was driving thru and the wedge shape of the front of my car.

Now that might have been an entirely different situation since there were a number of people in the parking lot when this happened (6:30pm on a Friday night) and his path would have possibly sent him barreling toward the front of the restaurant (if the Jeep was still able to move) where there were people standing outside waiting for seating.

[Carnag3]

is that him?

from his myspace:
i hate my life4:29 AM Apr 17

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

I never went looking beyond newspaper articles for anything about him personally till you showed me this. I just did a search on Myspace and sure enough by his name, location, and age that's him. His last login was 2 days before all this happened, which makes sense since his internet access is probably limited right now. Ironic how before he did all of this damage he actually had "I hate my life" on his Myspace page!

I also just found out the body shop went to install the new rear bumper today and realized the replacement mounting brackets they ordered with the bumper are missing, they contacted the company they purchased the bumper from and their priority shipping the parts out today. So now it looks like it's going to be late Monday (7-19-2010) before I get my truck back. Looks like the original 2 week repair time was accurate when all is going to be said and done.

[KillerCam]

 First off I am glad everyone is OK. Don't take this the wrong way but when I read this I threw my newly rented redbox movie in the trash.  LOL   F  did you at least get a steak with the movie  Holy Cow that is some crazy shit.  Sorry again glad everything is good for everyone involved except that clown.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

This is the story I've gotten from the local States Attorney's Office.

It's been 6 weeks since all this happened, I got my truck back after 2 weeks in the shop (final bill was $6246 / I paid a $500 deductible), and now the States Legal process is apparently done. After a month in Jail the guy pleaded Guilty to the 4 counts of Felony Intentional Criminal Damage and was released from Jail to start 30 months Probation without anymore jail time. As a condition of his Parole he's required to make regular payments toward the fines that the State penalized him with and pay off the entire balance by the end of the 30 months, he's also required to remain drug and alcohol free (and will be subjected to random testing for both), if he violates those or any of the other conditions of his parole it sounds like he goes straight to Prison because of the 4 Felony convictions.

According to the States Attorney's Office one of the damaged vehicles was not insured, part of the State's fines against the guy who did all the damage include the total amount of damage to that vehicle and the deductibles the rest of us had to pay. The way it's supposed to work is as this guy pays his fines to the State over the next 30 months the State in turn will begin reimbursing each of us with that money - we will see if that happens or not!

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

just probation? Geesh what a crock. He only has to pay for the total damage to one vehicle and the deduct for the rest ? Again what a crock. He should be paying for ALL damage period. I do hope you insurance company goes after his ass.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

Unfortunately the 3 of us that had insurance all had insurance thru different companies. The bad part about that is the individual insurance companies most likely won't go after someone too aggressively who apparently doesn't have any money (because of the legal costs to the insurance company in doing so vs. the payback). Had all 3 of our vehicles been insured with the same carrier they would have had a much larger vested interest and probably would have pursued monetary reimbursement more aggressively.

In my opinion I think had I been in his situation I would have taken more jail time over pleading guilty to 4 Felonies, those Felonies have the possibility of haunting him his entire life when trying to get future jobs.

I think what it comes down to is the legal system is SOOOOO screwed up! 

[KillerCam]

Good luck with it all

[Burt Munro]

The only thing that surprises be about the end result is that the un-insured driver gets full reimbursement. 

I would think that there should be some penalty for not carrying at least liability insurance. 

Maybe its the fact that the incident was on private property (not on a public street) and that no one was actually driving the car at the time of the incident. 

Or maybe its a situation where the owner only had liability coverage which wouldn't pay for his repairs in this instance.

I had a situation years ago where my parked car (parked in the driveway) was hit twice in the span of about 3 hours.
First was a drunk driver that caved in the right rear corner and spun the car around 180 degrees.  Next was a Semi that jack-knifed and caved in the front end.  I had to pay my deductible twice (2 separate incidents) in order to replace the car as it was totalled or else wait for the 2 insurance companies to fight it out.  Bottom line was I got my full deductible back from the drunk's Insurance after about 6 months and the Insurance for the Semi would only reimburse me for 2/3rds of my deductible claiming that their driver was only responsible for 2/3rds of the total damage.  I cried to my Insurance company but they told me it wasn't worth their time to try and fight for the $83.33 I was out.