Attn May 22 SD "Farmer's Field Refugees"

[Adam Lucio]

Oh yes, they took detailed information from all of us including pictures of the VIN numbers on our vehicles. They filed a very detailed report. Probably the only "action" they've had up there all year.

Although the deputy did tell me a story about how one of their own was joy riding in a field and wrecked the car on a pile of rocks...he said most of the offenders out there are on ATVs actually.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Yeah, they ran all of our licenses through LEIN and then kept a copy of all of our info.

I paid up with a personal check in a certified letter last week. Check hasn't cleared yet, but I did my part.

As far as legal action, it's not worth it. We can just pay up, have everything be over with and hopefully show some positive to the farmer and to the local cops that we paid up for our troubles we caused him.

 

[Bob Hartig]

Right, Ben. I enclosed a personal letter along with a cashier's check, sent certified mail. It wasn't a happy event for the farmer either, any more than it was for any of us, and a simple gesture of goodwill could leave the guy with a better feeling toward chasers.

 

[Scott Bennett]

I paid the farmer when he pulled me out in cash, gonna frame the receipt so something good will come out of it as a conversation piece . That was one expensive chase!

Looking back on it now...
Kinda wish we had a plan before going back to the field the next day. Wish we had asked for the "survey" of the crop and a verifiable way to prove what the agreement was.

There are reasons insurance companies handle this kind of thing. I have always been a high believer in taking responsibility for my actions in stuff like this where I cause someone else harm. Looking back I get a little worried we got run thru the ringer in the field.

 

[Brett Adair]

I paid the farmer when he pulled me out in cash, gonna frame the receipt so something good will come out of it as a conversation piece . That was one expensive chase!

Looking back on it now...
Kinda wish we had a plan before going back to the field the next day. Wish we had asked for the "survey" of the crop and a verifiable way to prove what the agreement was.

There are reasons insurance companies handle this kind of thing. I have always been a high believer in taking responsibility for my actions in stuff like this where I cause someone else harm. Looking back I get a little worried we got run through the ringer in the field.

While I wasn't in the field with you guys, I was in pretty constant contact with Bart concerning you guys considering I knew you were pretty close to the tornado and didn't know if you were hurt or not.

In all actuality, this could be a good or bad thing for future "instances" if they happen to occur. I believe you guys were likely taken through the ringer just because they figured they had you red handed and you were going to pay what they thought it was worth...or go to jail. I really hope this isn't something that we have to deal with in the future, but if it happen I really hope chasers aren't taken advantage of beyond reason.

Sure, we deserve to pay for what we have damaged....but I think 5k may be a stretch considering what corn is worth depending on the amount actually taken out. Just glad everyone came out of it all okay.

 

[Tyler Allison]

I don't want to drag up any bad feelings..honest...I just have a question given that I chase in a Jeep Wrangler with recovery gear.

Was someone physically keeping you guys from removing your vehicles? I was following the tweets/facebook posts about how the farmer "would not allow" anyone to remove their vehicle. Just wondering what would have happened if I pulled up, hooked a tow cable onto one of your cars and pulled you back to the road.

-Tyler

 

[Bart_Comstock]

I don't want to drag up any bad feelings..honest...I just have a question given that I chase in a Jeep Wrangler with recovery gear.

Was someone physically keeping you guys from removing your vehicles? I was following the tweets/facebook posts about how the farmer "would not allow" anyone to remove their vehicle. Just wondering what would have happened if I pulled up, hooked a tow cable onto one of your cars and pulled you back to the road.

-Tyler

Yes, the farmer would not allow any vehicles or tractors to the property. The Sherriff also honored this and only allowed cars that made it to the public right away the ability to be removed. Those vehicles that could make it to the right away still had to be assisted by a tractor due to a flash flood that had further soaked the field. Even vehicles that were only 50 yards from the road still needed the tractor, otherwise I would have tried to help pull people out as my Jeep has a 4.7l V8 and AWD and there were tow ropes present.

 

[Tyler Allison]

So the presumption was that the Farmer was denying access to his property and the Sheriff would "enforce" that denial via physical force (eg: arrest) if necessary.

Fair enough.

Do you think this was a play to make sure the farmer got "his way" with the group and nobody slipped away unknown or was their other topics at play? I can't imagine more damage to the field would have been done with a recovery effort...so I don't get the "nobody move" mentality...but I wasn't there.

If I just rolled up on the scene I would have presumed the farmer would have wanted everybody off his field as soon as they could so long as he had everyone's information. Once information was provided let the tow ropes roll.

 

[James Hilger]

So the presumption was that the Farmer was denying access to his property and the Sheriff would "enforce" that denial via physical force (eg: arrest) if necessary.

Fair enough.

Do you think this was a play to make sure the farmer got "his way" with the group and nobody slipped away unknown or was their other topics at play? I can't imagine more damage to the field would have been done with a recovery effort...so I don't get the "nobody move" mentality...but I wasn't there.

If I just rolled up on the scene I would have presumed the farmer would have wanted everybody off his field as soon as they could so long as he had everyone's information. Once information was provided let the tow ropes roll.

Exactly. Although i don't like the agreement-i understand why and agreed also to get out (which doesn't matter since it's none of my business), but i would think it would be illegal to hold them captive so to speak unless it was for safety. If a car crashes into your house, you can't say-sorry your gonna have to wait. A tow truck will be on it's way almost immediately.

 

[James Langford]

Exactly. Although i don't like the agreement-i understand why and agreed also to get out (which doesn't matter since it's none of my business), but i would think it would be illegal to hold them captive so to speak unless it was for safety. If a car crashes into your house, you can't say-sorry your gonna have to wait. A tow truck will be on it's way almost immediately.

I'm not so sure about this, but I could be wrong. I will share my experience with a similar situation. A drunken neighbor of mine drove onto my yard a few years back, did a large amount of damage, and got her vehicle completely stuck in the mud on my property. She was not around, and so I called the police to see what I should do. A number of them came out and basically told me that since the vehicle was on my property and had caused damage, I could effectively impound it if I so chose to. I ended up helping her get it out after the mud dried. With the farmer, he certainly couldn't have held the folks themselves, but I do believe he was within his legal rights to impound their vehicles. Seems to make sense, as he was probably trying to figure out how much damage had been done, and wanted to keep people from leaving before he had their information.

I can't comment on the cost of the damage, as I wasn't there. I do, however, applaud those chasers involved who owned up to the damage and their responsibility in it.

James

 

[Steve Miller]

Knowing the details from those involved outside of just the ST threads, I have a feeling this would have gone down a lot differently if I had been there (at least for my vehicle).
The guys did an admirable deed given the circumstances but regardless, I think if someone is going to inconvenience me, threaten me, and disallow me access to my property (pulling my car out); I would inconvenience everyone involved equally by introducing Mr. Farmer to my insurance card and let him deal with months of working with adjusters.
Do I believe Mr. Farmer was owed money? Yes.
Do I think the amount was fair? I have no idea - but probably.
Do I think law enforcement went a little overboard? YES.
Do I think Mr. Farmer had a relationship with LEO that caused the overboard action? YES

 

[Jim Saueressig]

I don't think they could legally keep you from being towed out after you provided insurance information to cover any damages you cause especially without some strong evidence of criminal intent to cause the damage.

 

[Nathan Edwards]

I paid the farmer when he pulled me out in cash, gonna frame the receipt so something good will come out of it as a conversation piece . That was one expensive chase!

Looking back on it now...
Kinda wish we had a plan before going back to the field the next day. Wish we had asked for the "survey" of the crop and a verifiable way to prove what the agreement was.

There are reasons insurance companies handle this kind of thing. I have always been a high believer in taking responsibility for my actions in stuff like this where I cause someone else harm. Looking back I get a little worried we got run thru the ringer in the field.

I too wish we'd asked for a bit of evidence about the damage total... Not to query the total necessarily but to help as I'm doing things through my car rental insurance at the moment. I'm sure there will be questions about that total, but hopefully they'll deal with those directly with the farmer. Missed a call from them today asking for some more info (time zones are awkward), so it's still ongoing at my end. I hope to clarify when I do get back in touch that the farmer is being fully informed of all developments with my side of the deal. Hope there aren't any issues with the claim as I had no intention of putting myself in that position and in my opinion, I couldn't have predicted that road non-existence. I always chase with the utmost of respect for the hire cars I use, and bar an incident with a mechanical break down a few years back in the path of a storm resulting in minor hail dents which I imagine were suctioned right out, I've never had any claims to make.

Ironically, I made it out of that field with no damage to the car, only to hit a turkey vulture a couple of days later and put a massive dent in the lower part of the bumper so I ended up having to put in a claim for both the farmers field and the car in the end....

 

[Adam Lucio]

Well according to the LEOs there it was his land and his right. He said he wouldn't allow anyone to be removed till they could look at things in daylight and assess the situation better. We were deep into the field, it was dark and the field was flooded.

Pulling people out with another 4x4 would not have worked. Thats actually how my vehicle became stuck. I had traction the whole time till I tried to maneuver to pull people out at which point I sank. It also didn't help where we were was downhill, so trying to climb up the muddy hill only made it worse.

Hell, the farmer who drove us out of there in his pickup also got stuck. We had to get out and push him out as well. It was as muddy as muddy can be. I stepped out and literally sank almost to my knees at one point.

Im not one to cause a big stink over things, and I would rather just get it over with as soon as possible. Regardless if I got ripped off. Ive been towed out of parking lots in Chicago that cost me $150 bucks in fines just to retrieve my vehicle. So 400 dollars for a tow 1/2 mile out of a muddy field plus crop damages to me seems a small price to pay. Plus the personal aggravation and worry about trying to fight it is also not worth trying to save 400 dollars as well. Thats just me though.

My sister in law works for the state agriculture department in KY. I sent her all the pictures that were taken and she said there are allot of factors that go into assessing value, such as whether its crop for livestock feed or human consumption. She told me it could have ranged from as little as 3000 to 10000 based off the pictures I showed her and that 5000 was likely pretty close.

 

[Andrew Burnett]

I grew up on a farm in KS. The amount for damages to the field is probably fairly close to what he lost assuming it was corn. I don't get the hang up on the amount. Say it was even 50% more than damages, the guy helped pull you out. That's a min of $100 a pop from a tow truck operator. So maybe, maybe he took each of you for 50-100 bucks. Not really worth a law suit.