Jim Sikes, who claims to have had an unintended acceleration incident with his Toyota Prius on a San Diego County freeway Monday afternoon, says he has no plans to sue Toyota.
He's been saying that in multiple media interviews, but he expanded a bit with Jalopnik, which e-mailed him to ask if (as they'd been tipped), he was behind on his Prius payments. He e-mailed back, denying that he is or ever was late on the lease payment, saying "What we are waiting for is SLANDEROUS statements from the media." He also mentioned having hired an attorney.
Sikes may be anticipating a jackpot in that area...he can't be happy with the ABC affiliate in San Diego's delving into his 2008 bankruptcy, six-figure debt and what the Merced County Sheriff's Office considers a couple of questionable police reports claiming that he'd been burgled twice and robbed of $59,000.
If the language in the e-mail to Los Jalops was intended to chill, it hasn't worked so far. Six and a half hours after the post with the e-mail, Jalopnik goes on the record with documentation to back up what had been claimed in comments to a post on The Truth About Cars...that when Jim's not selling real estate (or maybe when he is), he's running an adult swingers' website, which, according to Jalopnik, "advertises that it supports "The Adult lifestyle, wife swapping, hook-up, Swinger clubs, adult social club, booty call, Friends with Benefits, NASCA" with webchats, message boards and other services".
Many people online have questioned Sikes' smarts, ignoring the instructions of a 9-1-1 operator to simply put the Prius in neutral, which would have ended the incident in 3 minutes instead of 20, but doing exactly those things once told to by a CHP officer via the P.A. system. Factor this in: The phone number listed for the decidedly NSFW (not safe for work) adultswinglife.com website....is the same number as Sikes' real estate business' main number listed on that site.
I can hear the voice mail prompts: "For real estate, press one. For booty call......."
Nah. Too easy. Not going there.
But wait! There's more!
Jalopnik also says the bankruptcy papers indicate his insurance paid $7,400 for the theft of clothes, a saxophone and other items from his car last April.
Meantime, Toyota says it's "mystified" by the incident on Monday and can't replicate it.
Federal investigators are on the case as well.
