Steve Perkins’ family retrieve repossessed car, legal team says it should have been in evidence
DECATUR, Ala. (WAFF) - WAFF 48 News is staying on top of a story that has had the Decatur community protesting for more than six weeks.
Steve Perkins was shot and killed by police after a dispute involving his truck and a repo driver. Now, the Perkins family has that repossessed truck back.
Following the shooting, Perkins’ family said he was not behind on payments, meaning the repo driver should not have been at the home. Now, they believe having that truck returned vindicates them.
Perkins’ legal team also says they wonder why the truck is not considered evidence in the ongoing investigation.
Perkins’ brother, Nick Perkins, has mixed feelings about having a piece of his brother back.
“I was happy, mad, sad, disappointed, about every emotion you could feel I felt in that moment because I shouldn’t have had the car, my brother should have had the car,” Perkins said.
Some of Perkins’ gym clothes were still inside, and Nick says the radio was still playing the Christian gospel music that he loved. He said he and his lawyers had to jump through hoops to bring the truck back to his family.
The family says they got it back from All-Star Recovery without having to pay any fines or fees. Cannon Lambert Sr., one of the family’s attorneys, says that is unusual if the car was legally repossessed.
“The fact that the family has the truck back now vindicates clearly that there was no repo order, there was no reason for them to be there in the first place,” Lambert said. “I’m talking about the repo company. They put this in order, they set the table for this.”
He says the way this situation is being handled does not make sense.
“Candidly we take exception to the notion that after the truck was taken to the tow truck company the police didn’t do anything to secure it because it was a piece of evidence,” Lambert said. “For the family to get it back in the way that they did it just belies rationale.”
His attorneys and family members just want to know what happened that fatal night.
“They ambushed my brother and then took his truck or allowed the truck to leave,” Perkins said. “It was an active crime scene. I don’t get it, it’s an answer that needs to be answered by this police department.”
Perkins is currently paying off the rest of the lease on the car, he said he did not want to put the burden on Steve’s widow, Catrela.
The Decatur Police Department nor state investigators will comment on the ongoing investigation.
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