Posted on 01/23/2007 6:09:37 AM PST by Puppage
(New Haven-WTNH) _ A New Haven tax collector doing his job is run over while trying to enforce the city's bootfinder policy.
The bootfinder program has been suspended tonight because the man in charge had to be rushed to the hospital. In the meantime, police have put out an all-points bulletin for the angry driver who decided to take out her tax troubles on the tax man.
"We rolled up on the car, doing a regular tax warrants, like we do everyday. We locked on the car for $536 and the tax collector got out to verify the warrant," said witness and tow truck driver Dominic Simeone.
They were at the corner of Orange and Crown in downtown New Haven and it all appeared routine until the woman approached the men.
"The lady came out of a building, shoved him down a few times and ran him over with the car," said Simeone. "He was pinned under the car for a couple seconds until she backed up and ran into the truck."
The woman then fled the scene and the tax collector, CJ Cuticello was rushed to Yale New Haven Hospital.
"Very upsetting because we are endangered every day doing this and you have to be very, very careful. This is the worst thing that has happened since the program has started," said State Marshal Anthony Esposito.
The bootfinder program tracks down residents who haven't paid back taxes or parking fines and impounds their car until they pay up. The city is currently searching for over 10,000 delinquent drivers who collectively owe about $2 million. But finding them and confronting them is not always easy. The state marshals have law enforcement training, but tax collectors and tow truck drivers do not. Dominic Simeone said a man pulled a gun on him just last Friday. City Hall says the program is necessary so that other people's taxes don't go up, but with one of their own sent to the hospital they are now scrutinizing their security.
"We'll take a look at it, we'll talk to the police and see if there are ways we can improve it to make it safer for the people who are out there," said Derek Slap from the City of New Haven.
Cuticello suffered non-life threatening injuries and will be released from the hospital tonight. Police are still looking for the driver. They have the license plate number, know who the driver is and where she lives. At the very least she will be charged with aggravated assault and evading responsibility.
Impounding cars is tough business.
Am I supposed to feel pity? For a tax collector?
Which is why they have professional 'impounders' (or whatever they're called).
Usually former military / cops/ guards who are trained in law enforcement and are usually armed.
Impounding crackhead's cars in the middle of the ghetto is no job for a pencil necked paper pusher.
Some things never change. 2000 years later and tax collectors are still loathed.;-)
I take it there were not skid marks?
Well, not in the street....his underpants however...
There's not a day that goes by that I don't try to kill someone for costing me money.
And this is bad because?
Zacchaeus??
Them revenooers! Someone took the Snuffy Smith option.
No, you feel pity for the human being who was run over for doing his job.
When will these CARS be stopped? First it was just SUVs. Now it's spread to CARS as well. DAMN THEM ALL!
throw the tea in the harbor!
A friend of mine used to repo airplanes of people who had defaulted on their loans. He has some great stories about repoing at night at unlighted airports.
I must disagree. Where do you draw the line? As an extreme example, in Nuremburg, one of the defenses was I was just doing my job, and it was true, but the job itself was something that shouldn't have been done. I suspect that the founding fathers would have tossed this guy into the Boston Harbor about the same time as they tossed the tea.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.