California man enraged over car repossession rams tow truck, holes up in home for hours
By APWednesday, August 11, 2010
Repo rage: Man rams tow truck, holes up in home
TUSTIN, Calif. — A California man suspected of ramming a tow truck that was repossessing his car has surrendered peacefully after an 11-hour standoff.
Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino says 46-year-old Bernard Veldhuizen walked out of his home in Tustin about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday and was arrested for felony vandalism.
Amormino says Veldhuizen used a rented U-Haul truck to ram the tow truck and then ran into his house around 2:45 a.m.
During a standoff with a SWAT team, the bare-chested man yelled out a window and threw items onto his lawn.
Amormino says financial problems may have led to the confrontation. He says Veldhuizen was unemployed, was being evicted, and was arrested last month on suspicion of making terrorist threats and brandishing a handgun.
