Caught on camera: Employee fired after alleged high

Simply betrayed is how a Silverdale man feels about his experience with a local repair shop after continued issues led him to find dashcam videos of an employee allegedly recklessly driving his car while it was in service.

It was a check engine light that brought Mason Berger to take his BMW into theWrench in Silverdale in late July. But he had to take his car right back when he found issues with his stereo. “I went to turn on my music, and I noticed right away that the subwoofer wasn’t working anymore,” he said. “This was right after I left the parking lot, so I immediately turned around, brought it back thinking maybe they just disconnected something.”

Further inspection led to the replacement of blown fuses, but when that didn’t work, Berger said he was told it was an internal problem, and it would not have resulted from anything the shop did.

Skeptical, Berger found out another Bluetooth device had been connected to his car, leading him to check his dashcam footage. What he found were videos of his car reportedly traveling at ludicrous speeds, making illegal passes, running a red light and blaring music to the point where it sounded severely distorted. Video provided to the Kitsap Daily News even shows the camera shaking due to the music’s extreme volume level.

The footage later shows the car pulling back up to theWrench, the music suddenly turned back down to normal levels. The driver gets out after parking the car, and the employee is recognized.

Confronting the business owner with the video evidence, Berger said he was told the repairs to fix the stereo elsewhere would be covered, an issue that has not yet been resolved. On top of already spending nearly $2,500 for the initial repairs to fix an intake charge pipe and oxygen sensor, the added repairs have cost him another $813.

He said he can’t believe theWrench isn’t paying up. “I have the evidence right there on the dashcam…It’s not right for someone to do that with your car.”

The shop’s owner, John Crowley, confirmed the allegations were true, and that the employee would no longer be working there as a result. Crowley said the man had been a good employee, but also had recently been absent from work due to personal matters. “To say that it was aggravating is an understatement,” Crowley said. “I mean, I was really pissed off.”

However, he said Berger is trying to exploit the shop for the broken stereo, and he doesn’t feel obligated to pay for those repairs. “Even under a circumstance like that, I won’t be extorted for anything, and the shop won’t be,” he said.