Senior management of the dealership group apparently learned these lessons.
Lower level guys react out of fear, play CYA and so shame the entire organization.
It's like a Greek tragedy the way this gets played out again and again in organizations.
It sounds as if the dealer made a mistake on the price in the contract.
General common law states that if a seller makes a unilateral mistake of fact (such a mistake in math or a misstated price) in a written contract, and the buyer knows of the mistake and tries to take advantage of it and "jumps on it" by entering into the contract - then there is no enforceable written contract.
For that reason, as to the initial sale, it's important to me to know whether the the following part of the story is true:
". . . Davenport told Sawyer it would cost about $5,500 more than the black one and that Sawyer orally agreed to the higher price."
If Sawyer knew what the price was supposed to be, saw a lower price on the contract (which was there by mistake), and tried to take advantage of it, then Sawyer never had a contract to purchase. It's possible he saw a chance to pull a quick one on the car dealership and did.
After the dealership brought in the police instead of simply waiving its mistake or pursuing a civil action, the wrong it did far outweighed what Sawyer may have done.
Contracts is a full-year class in law school. A significant amount of time is spent learning about the circumstances under which there is no contract, even though there's a purported written contract signed by two parties.
Senior management of the dealership group apparently learned these lessons.
Lower level guys react out of fear, play CYA and so shame the entire organization.
It's like a Greek tragedy the way this gets played out again and again in organizations.