Repo man charged with impersonating cop, dragging woman with Buick

A Southwest Side repo man was arrested after allegedly trying to impersonate a Chicago police officer outside the Chicago Lawn District police station Monday morning, police said.

Nicholas Carrera, 39, of the 3800 block of 60th Place, was charged at 8:55 p.m. Monday with false personation of the police, battery and driving on a suspended license, according to police, who said the impersonation charge was a felony.

Carrera, a repo man, was arrested Monday at 11 a.m. on the 3400 block of West 63rd Street while wearing a badge that said, “Illinois Repossessor” on it, according to police.

The incident began about 10:45 a.m. when Carrera called a woman named Dominique Williams whose car he was trying to repossess and told her that her son had been involved in a multiple-vehicle wreck and the son had to “turn himself in,’’ according to police.

During the phone call, Carrera identified himself at “Deputy Pulaski from 26th and Cal” and told her to go to the Chicago Lawn District station on the 3420 block of West 63rd Street, according to police.

Williams did and when she got there with her son and her uncle, Carerra was out in front of the station. He approached the 1996 Buick Century she was driving and allegedly said to her, “get the f--- out of the car, I’m a police officer,’’ police said.

He then allegedly got into the Buick and started to drive away while Williams tried to stop him by getting into the vehicle, saying, “You’re not the police,’’ according to a police report.

As she was getting in, he placed the car into gear and allegedly started driving away at a fast rate of speed, causing her to fall, according to the report.

Williams grabbed onto the front seat and he allegedly continued to drive and police said she was dragged about 90 feet. She fell out of the car onto the street and suffered abrasions to her right knee, hip, thigh and left index finger and she was treated and released from an unidentified hospital, according to the report.

Police inside the station saw he commotion, ran outside and were the ones who placed Carerra into custody.

A motive was not known immediately but police said Carerra might have though it was easier to repossess the car at the police station.

Wentworth Area detectives are investigating.

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There has been some discussion as of late about the practice of knocking on a debtor’s door once a recovery has been perfected. It appears that some agents feel the need to ‘trade’ personal property from a recovered unit in exchange for the keys. While I really cannot tell someone that a certain practice is not the proper avenue for their situation, I do feel the need to take this particular habit to task.

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