The American Repossessor

SANFORD, Fla. — Police arrested a man after they say he terrorized a woman while trying to repossess her car. He chased her through the streets of Sanford and crashed into her. The chase ended on Park Avenue in Sanford when the woman stopped to ask for help from police.

Police say the man wasn’t even supposed to be behind the wheel, because he had a suspended driver’s license and yet his victim says he chased her all around a neighborhood.

Beverly Wright thinks she could have died when Neal Melbourne took her car repossession into his own hands. Police say he chased Wright and two friends around Sanford’s streets.

“It was just horrifying. Anybody could’ve got … we could’ve just been killed that day. I was so scared,” Wright said.

Neal Melbourne was employed at My Mechanic Car Sales when he saw Wright driving the white Nissan that he thought was being repossessed. Police say the run-in started at 13th Street and French Avenue, when Melbourne blocked Wright in, nose-to-nose. So she put her car into reverse.

Melbourne allegedly followed Wright, tapping her bumper for eight blocks on Elm Avenue before he began pushing her car with his. As Neal Melbourne chased her, she called 911.

“Ma’am, this man is hitting us, ma’am, he is hitting us in his brown car!” Wright told the dispatcher.

Police say Wright spun out into a front yard on Oak Avenue, before finally finding several Sanford police two blocks away.

The owner of My Mechanic, Darren Jones, says Wright’s car wasn’t even in repossession, though there was a payment dispute. He says Melbourne’s been fired.

“That’s between him and police. That’s why he’s no longer working with me. But I got the true story out of him when he came here,” Jones said.

Melbourne faces aggravated battery and property damage charges. He has at least seven previous driving-related charges and his car ended up more damaged than Wright’s.

Wright now says she plans to cut all ties with My Mechanic and find a new car for herself.