Posted on 03/12/2010 9:14:38 AM PST by Chet 99
The man who became the face of the Toyota gas pedal scandal this week has a troubled financial past that is leading some to question whether he was wholly truthful in his story.
On Monday, James Sikes called 911 to report that he was behind the wheel of an out-of-control Toyota Prius going 94 mph on a freeway near San Diego. Twenty-three minutes later, a California Highway Patrol officer helped guide him to a stop, a rescue that was captured on videotape.
Since then, it's been learned that:
— Sikes filed for bankruptcy in San Diego in 2008. According to documents, he was more than $700,000 in debt and roughly five months behind in payments on his Prius;
— In 2001, Sikes filed a police report with the Merced County Sheriff's Department for $58,000 in stolen property, including jewelry, a digital video camera and equipment and $24,000 in cash;
— Sikes has hired a law firm, though it has indicated he has no plans to sue Toyota;
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“We did it for a show.” [/6-year-old voice]
His story reminded me of mackerel on ice. It smells and it shines.
Shades of the balloon boy’s freak dad.
Very interesting. I think he owed on the Prius and thought maybe this would get him a new one, comped of something. Perhaps a nice settlement, too.
Between GM, UAW and the trial lawyers, and the fact that Toyota is based mostly in the south, this is starting to look really strange.
BTW, if any of you are in a runaway car, please put it in neutral (N) immediately, and step on the brakes. It’s not that hard.
A gold digger for sure.
Suicide-by-automobile, where the guy chickened out before he could bring himself to swing over into oncoming traffic.
Abutments are really much better to secure a sure self-kill.
Sounds like the nut behind the wheel was what was out of control.
BAD ADVICE! The key is the THROW THE CAR INTO REVERSE and PUNCH THE ACCELERATOR and YANK THE WHEEL HARD TO THE RIGHT!
Take your seat belt off first, of course.
I always figured something smelled with this guy. California is litigation nuts and this guy is looking for a quick payday settlement from Toyota.
And make sure the charges are set and the cameras are rolling, stuntman.
It's worked every time I tried it!
Well, and the DNC-inspired news media were all set to jump on his story. I wonder if this expose will get past Fox into the media? Not if Obama, the Democrats, or Government Motors have any say in the matter.
I think it may not always be as easy as it sounds. If you're on a highway already going fast and the car starts going faster, your first instinct will be to take your foot off the gas pedal and hit the brakes, with the assumption that this will work. When it doesn't work, you may already be having serious trouble maintaining control of the car's direction or weaving around other vehicles whose drivers don't immediately recognize that you're unable to slow down. Taking a hand off the steering wheel to switch gears may be genuinely dangerous. You'll do it eventually, but not necessarily before your brakes are wiped out from being pushed down hard while the car is going 60 or 70 or more mph.
I also read yesterday that the guy owns and operates a “swingers” wife-swapping website.
I’d say we’re better than 50-50 that this was staged.
SnakeDoc
You forgot to tell them to yank the door handle with that hard right turn.
And if you can get the car to roll once or twice, that’s even better.
If a forensic examination of the car shows that it doesn’t match his story, he’ll be wishing hard that he could go back to the set of problems he had before this incident.
You are implying that the doors are there.... I already instructed them to remove the door and half-hang out of the car when doing all this.
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