WPTV got an exclusive look at a tow truck driver’s frantic escape after deputies said a man fired shots in his direction.
We reported last week on a Wellington husband and wife who face attempted murder charges in the case.
Investigators said the husband, Brian Martin, started shooting at a driver who was repossessing the family’s Maserati.
WPTV reporter Michael Hoffman is shining a light on the dangers of the job.
In the harrowing body camera video, you can hear the frantic moments when the repossessor called 911 to report the incident.
“He’s shooting at me,” the driver of the tow truck can be heard saying. “He’s shooting at me! He’s shooting at me!”
It all happened moments after repossessing the Maserati at 1 a.m. on Oct. 30 in the Grand Isles community in Wellington.
The tow truck driver told investigators he saw “Brian Martin come outside with no shirt on holding a black handgun.”
According to court documents, Martin and his wife, Lori, followed the driver in a separate car. The truck driver told investigators that Brian Martin “lowered his window and began shooting at him.”
“I am shaken up, but I’m OK,” the repossessor told deputies who responded to the scene.
WPTV showed the body camera video to Derrick Calhoun, who has been in the repossession and towing industry for more than 30 years.
“The way that they were coming after him, and shooting at him there’s nothing OK with that,” Calhoun said.
Hoffman asked him about the dangers of the job.
“Have you ever been shot at or anything like that,” Hoffman asked. “Yes, a few times.”
Calhoun told Hoffman that body cameras and truck cameras help keep agents safe but when bullets start flying, it gets real fast.
“A lot of times people draw firearms not thinking because they are stressed out over the situation,” Calhoun said. “You just have to be smart about it.”
In a court filing this week, Brian Martin’s public defender asked for his bond to be reduced to $55,000.
“This is an isolated incident where Mr. Martin’s vehicle was being towed under unclear circumstances in the dead of night. He was awoken in the early morning hours to his car alarm going off. It was a chaotic situation, and unlikely to ever be replicated again,” the filing said.
This incident is a reminder of how things can quickly get dangerous in this profession.
“If it looks like a bad situation don’t go into it,” Calhoun said.
Brian Martin is still in the Palm Beach County jail. His wife Lori is set to be released on house arrest. One of the conditions of that release is that she can have no contact with her husband.
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Source: wptv
