A salesman at a South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Toyota dealership was stabbed in the leg and carjacked by a customer during a morning test drive March 25, according to local news reports.
The 29-year-old salesman from Jim Bagan Toyota was able to escape the violent encounter and alert authorities. He later underwent surgery for the wounds suffered in the attack. Neither the store's general manager, Gary Hamner, nor its general sales manager, Bradley Wade, returned calls or emails seeking comment about the incident.
"The safety and security of Toyota dealers and their employees is important to us. While dealers are independently owned and operated businesses, we take pride in the work the dealer sales associates do to meet and exceed customer demands," Toyota Motor North America said in an e-mailed statement.
"We are pleased to hear the sales associate with Jim Bagan Toyota is recovering and able to return to work. We wish him a speedy recovery."
Authorities said the suspect, 45-year-old Jonathan Paget, fled the attack in the stolen Dodge Durango and crashed into a snowbank as he was fleeing law enforcement. He ran from the crash and was arrested after a brief foot chase, according to the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office. Paget was charged with carjacking, assault with a deadly weapon and evading police, and is being held in the El Dorado County Jail without bond.
Paget had been arrested a week earlier about 250 miles south in Esmeralda County, Nev., charged with unlawful breaking into vacant property, theft, assault with a deadly weapon and break/injure/tamper with a vehicle, SouthTahoeNow.com reported. The website reported that Paget's bail in Esmeralda county had been set at $17,250, but it was unclear whether he had posted bail or been released. A message left for the Esmeralda County Sheriff's Office by Automotive News has yet to be returned.
Test drives can be one of the most dangerous parts of selling automobiles. In 2016, a salesman in Houston was assaulted and kidnapped during a test drive of a Dodge Challenger. Jared Allen, vice president of communications for the National Automobile Dealers Association, said the organization doesn't track the number of violent attacks against auto salespeople on test drives.
