My Brush with the Law
By J. Scott Andrews

In 1989, I was a loan officer for a bank in northwest Oklahoma City. I had been in that position for two years or so. One of the first loans I made went bad due to a divorcing couple. The collateral on the loan was a van which was worth about what the balance was on the loan. To spend money to hire a repossession company would have probably caused a deficiency balance and thus a probable loss to my portfolio.

The wife had told me that her husband had possession of the van but that she had a set of keys. She also knew where he was living at the time. Having done my own repossessions before, I decided to get this van back at no additional cost.

I enlisted the services of my friend Ray to ride with me to the debtor’s residence at approximately 9 p.m. I was wearing a dark blue T-shirt, jeans and a ball cap. Sure enough, the van was backed into the driveway at the husband’s residence and we could see the debtor through the plate glass window watching TV. Talk about adrenaline!

I told my buddy to let me out of my truck a block or so away from the van and instructed him to follow me once I passed him. I snuck down the street, opened the door, jammed the key in the ignition and sped out of the driveway. I turned back to look at the house and saw the debtor running out the door yelling.

I drove by Ray and we sped through the streets of Edmond to the foreclosed home the bank owned. It had a large metal barn where we kept our repossessed autos until sale time. The barn was located about a mile off the street on a winding gravel driveway. I placed the van in the barn and climbed back in my truck.

When Ray and I got half way off of the property, we were met by six Edmond police cars back to back. The policemen were standing by their vehicles, doors open and guns drawn. I pulled to within a few feet of the lead squad car and reached over into the seat to retrieve the debtor’s loan file. As I turned off the truck and opened my door I heard the police screaming, “Hands up and get down on the ground.” Of course I knew I wasn’t a car thief so I approached the officers at the lead squad car. Their yelling escalated and I tried to tell the police the story and the yelling escalated even more. I reached over to place the loan file on the hood of my pickup before I was escorted to the ground by several officers. One officer held a nice, brushed stainless steel revolver to my head as several others frisked me. They then escorted Ray out of the truck and did the same to him.

Let’s just say by this time I was shaking like a Chihuahua on a cold winter day! As I stood up, one of the cops said “Now you can talk.” With trembling hands I retrieved my wallet to pull out my driver’s license and a business card. And, with a shaky voice I began telling the repossession story. When I finished the story the police officer told me I should have called the police department prior to repossessing the vehicle. I explained that my training had taught me to call immediately after the repossession. The officer then exclaimed that, “in Edmond you call before and after.” In a very calm voice he told me the main mistake I had made: “You moved once when you picked up that file and a second time when you put it on the hood. If you had moved again, I would have shot you.”

Ends up the debtor had called the police to report the van stolen. A citizen with a scanner heard the announcement go out on the radio about the time I passed them, called the police and followed me to the property. Needless to say, it took over an hour to calm down and I didn’t do another “self repossession” for years to come!

Mr. Andrews practices in Ardmore.