Police mistake costs man thousands

embarrassment heartache and a major financial hit all of that dumped on a New Mexico man who did absolutely nothing wrong in fact he did everything right but that was not enough to protect him from a series of unfortunate circumstances that never should have happened News 13s Kim Holland is on special assignment this is where I had my lecture spark I backed it up right here and stayed here for three years but john lu han's Lexus SUV is now gone and so was the pile of cash he spent to fix it up and get it running the only thing left is lu han's anger and confusion I think there's a sneaky snake in the grass Luhan thought he hit the jackpot three years ago when he bought a 2001 Lexus LX 470 like this one for 3500 bucks from a man in his hometown of Las Vegas New Mexico didn't run didn't start no battery flat tires it's just a junk why do you want it that's what my wife keeps on telling me Luhan saved his tax returns from the past three years to come up with the money to fix the SUV in the meantime police say he did everything right he researched the SUV through CARFAX he insured the vehicle and began trying to obtain a new title he headed to the state police office in Las Vegas to make sure it wasn't stolen so he could register it he ran the vehicles VIN number in NCIC and it either came back clear or no record found NCIC is the FBI's National Crime Information Center that police across the country used to track stolen property then in September Lujan took the SUV to the Santa Fe Lexus dealership for repairs a week later the vehicle was ready for pickup the managers were so impressed with the SUV they even offered Lujan $25,000 for it but he said no deal the car was a gift for his wife but boom I want a big red bow on top of it we got him a card I bought him some flowers out of my own pocket when Lujan showed up at the dealership with his wife and mother-in-law for the big reveal he paid the fifty three hundred dollar bill in cash but then he tells me congratulations in your lawn can have a word with you and I said sure I thought he was going to show me if my lectures was to my standards to give to my wife took like maybe 20 steps turn the corner there was too police right there probably two hours before he was coming here to pick it up uh we got the word that state police had called us and said the car was stolen the police officers read him his rights and threatened to arrest him then drove away in lu han's prized vehicle I was furious I'm still fears I haven't slept my wife cried I cried it was the most embarrassing moment of my life how could this happen luhan went through all the proper channels he filled out all the necessary paperwork and remember a state police officer did a VIN inspection to make sure his vehicle was not stolen well it turns out that officer made one critical error how did this mistake happen he just didn't he didn't he ran it through NCIC which is one of the steps you're supposed to do it came back clear there which that's a good sign however if he would have checked the NI CB database they would have found the purged file which is the vehicle still stolen out of Colorado turns out the car was stolen from a dealership near Denver in 2001 state police admit they blew it by not checking the other national database but Colorado police also blew it by not putting the file in NCIC either of those steps would have saved Lujan nearly $9,000 and a lot of heartache I still can't believe it Kim Holland KRQE news 13 the insurance company for the Colorado car dealership now has the car police are investigating to try to see who stole it in the first place meanwhile mr. Lujan has filed a lawsuit against State Police and against the Lexus dealership in Santa Fe the dealer says he wants to work with Lujan to try to get him a good deal on another car or party

Channel: KRQE

Views: 1,070,692

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Id: aY1HEieSq_k

Length: 3min 53sec (233 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 02 2011