BURIEN, Wash. — When deputies pulled over a car during a test drive Saturday, they thought it was stolen—but the married couple inside had no idea why they were shouted at and faced with guns.
Jorge and Maria Quiroz are traumatized after driving a Nissan off the lot Saturday afternoon from Legend Auto Sales in Burien.
They had no idea it once been listed as stolen, but in minutes they would find out.
"My mom was just crying and shaking, and she couldn't stop shaking, she was in shock,” said Jorge Quiroz, Jr., who translated the interview because his parents speak only Spanish.
Abraham Camarena was the salesman in the back seat on Saturday.
He said the Nissan had been reported stolen in 2014, but then recovered.
Legend Auto Sales bought the Nissan legally at auction, but they say they had no idea that someone had failed to delete the car as stolen from the national system.
"My heart dropped man, there are no words to describe it,” said Camarena, who also had a gun pointed at him when the car was stopped.
"I tried to tell the cops I'm a sales guy and they keep ignoring that,” he added.
After deputies released the three from handcuffs, Maria Quiroz went to the emergency room because of the trauma.
But, she said, she can't make the memory of that terrible test drive go away.
Legend Auto Sales told KIRO 7 they are still trying to figure out why no one ever cleared the vehicle as stolen from the national system, since they bought the Nissan legally.
Though a King County Sheriff’s spokesperson couldn’t comment on the individual case, she said deputies respond to a vehicle that comes up as stolen as a “high risk stop,” which is why guns were drawn as standard procedure.
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