The American Repossessor

Video clips showing a tow truck driver shouting and swearing at an off-duty Lenawee County sheriff’s deputy during a dispute over a vehicle repossession were played Tuesday at the deputy’s trial on assault and firearms charges.

The non-jury trial is scheduled to be completed today in Lenawee County Circuit Court.

Daniel Dalton Rudd, who was fired from the sheriff’s department over the Feb. 8 incident, testified he thought he was stopping an auto theft when he ran outside with a handgun and wearing boxer shorts that Sunday morning to confront the driver. The incident happened outside his Tipton-area home.

Rudd, 45, was a 20-year veteran of the sheriff’s department and a sergeant for 10 years before being fired in April.

Driver Matthew Freeman said he was frightened and expecting a bullet to shatter his windshield when Rudd ran in front of his vehicle and pointed a gun at him.

“I told him I was not stealing his truck, I was repossessing it,” said the owner of Ottawa Lake-based Professional Towing & Recovery. Freeman said he held up his Blackberry and began to make a video.

“When he saw me hold my Blackberry, the gun went away and was no longer pointed at my face,” he testified. Freeman said he then shut off the video feature to call 911.

Freeman said he realized Rudd was a sheriff’s deputy moments later when Rudd also called 911 with a cellular telephone.

“From then on I knew this was really going to get ugly. I knew it was not going to end happily,” Freeman told Judge Timothy P. Pickard.

Video clips show Rudd asking Freeman for proof. A video also showed Freeman blocking Rudd from getting into his Toyota pickup to remove his sheriff’s department gun, badge, keys and other property.

“I didn’t want him getting his hands on any other guns that could possible harm me,” Freeman testified. “To me, the more guns the more danger.”

Rudd testified he realized Freeman probably was making a repossession when Freeman called 911. Rudd said he also then saw a business name on the side of the truck for the first time, but that Freeman never showed him any paperwork authorizing the repossession.

Rudd testified he lowered his gun when Freeman first began saying it was a repossession and not a theft. Rudd said he believed his only option was to remove the sheriff’s department gear and his personal property and allow him to take the truck.

He said Freeman could not legally possess the department firearm, badge and keys.

“I was insistent I was getting my property and he wasn’t giving in,” Rudd said.

He said they struggled briefly over the door handle to his truck.

“He stomped on my foot and elbowed me in the ribs,” Rudd said.

The two gave different versions of how Rudd ended up driving his pickup back into his driveway.

Freeman said he got in the truck, which had not yet been chained down, and drove it off his lift.

Rudd said he was retrieving his police gear and property when Freeman started to drive forward. Rudd said he reached with his leg from the passenger side to hit the brakes. His pickup then dropped off the lift. He then drove it back in his driveway, he said.

The Michigan State Police detective who investigated Freeman’s complaint sided with Rudd on that issue. Detective Duane Hickock of the Jackson post testified that Freeman’s video seems to show his tow truck moving forward at the point where Rudd’s truck came off the lift.