HOUSTON – What started as a fender bender in Pasadena ended with the victim in the hospital and his car trashed.
Roy Soliz said he had recently refinished the interior of his BMW convertible and was on his way to pick up his daughter from dance class when the crash happened.
“Someone hit me from behind,” he said. “When I got out to look at the damage, they sped off and they hit me.”
Dashcam video shows the ambulance and police arriving at the scene. Then a Camel Wrecking driver can be seen towing the car.
Dashcam video also shows the moment the tow truck driver got into the BMW and started rummaging. In three minutes, he stole several items and caused nearly $2,000 in damage, Soliz said.
“These are the people that are supposed to be helping, not someone that violates you when you’re not watching,” Soliz said. “That’s the way I feel. I feel violated."
The initial accident happened two weeks ago. Soliz spent the night in the hospital and only watched the video a few days later.
He said Camel Wrecking’s owner initially promised to make it right.
“But he didn’t want to help,” in the end, Soliz said. “He said he can’t do anything.”
KPRC visited Camel Wrecking and talked to the owner, Manuel Guzman, who initially came close to an apology.
“It’s actually horrible, you know what I mean,” Guzman said when asked how he feels about the situation. “But there’s nothing I can do with someone else’s actions.”
Eventually, Guzman told our reporter to “get the f*** off my property.”
KPRC reached out directly to the accused driver, but did not hear back.
How KPRC 2 uses surveillance video
How it works: We receive surveillance video from law enforcement and the public. We verify the authenticity prior to publication.
Why we do this: We need to ensure the content in the video is accurate and truthful. We do this by confirming its origin and source.
What we did in this instance: We used video from the victim’s dashcam and confirmed it as truthful.