Alabama Repossessor Shot After Repossession
TALLADEGA, Ala. (WIAT) — A tow truck driver was shot in Talladega early Friday morning after he repossessed a vehicle.
According to the Talladega Police Department (TPD), officers were dispatched to the 1300 block of Nimitz Avenue around 1:28 a.m. on a firearm discharge call. At the scene, they found a tow truck in the woods off Nimitz Road. The truck had a vehicle attached to it and struck a tree.
When officers went up to the truck, they saw a 24-year-old Ohatchee man who was driving the truck suffering from gunshot wounds to the back of his neck. He was taken to Citizens Baptist Medical Center before being transported to UAB Hospital via an ambulance.
The TPD stated detectives determined the tow truck driver had gone to an address on Nimitz Avenue on behalf of Allstar Recovery to repossess a vehicle. As the tow truck driver was about to leave, the vehicle owners confronted him. After the parties exchanged words, the tow truck driver left. The vehicle owners followed him.
When the tow truck stopped on Nimitz Avenue, a single gunshot was fired and entered the back of the tow truck, striking the driver. When detectives concluded their investigation, they arrested 44-year-old Dexter Lamar Swain, of Talladega.
Swain has been charged with discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle and certain persons forbidden to possess a firearm. He is being on a $200,000 bond in the Talladega County Jail.