A man suing Hertz after he was held at gunpoint 30 minutes after renting his vehicle says the incident has left his daughter in therapy and terrified of police.
Nicholas Wright and his then-13-year-old daughter were stopped by armed officers in October last year, 30 minutes after he had rented a car.
He is one of hundreds suing Hertz after encounters with law enforcement following rental cars being reported as stolen while customers were driving them.
The plaintiff, who was renting with Hertz subsidiary Thrifty, was told by officers that the car had been reported stolen by the company.
A video seen by Insider shows several police officers swarming Wright and his daughter in a Georgia parking lot.
“I had my hands in that sweatshirt, hoodie up, in the pouring rain. Do you know how easy it could have been, I – even worse, my daughter – could have got shot,” Wright said.
He told Insider a manager at the Thrifty depot laughed over the phone when he first called in a panic over the incident. Wright was later given an upgrade and $200 off his bill.
“I mean, that’s insane to me. I still can’t comprehend that line of thinking. So it’s clear, nobody cares,” Wright said.
Officers at the scene told Wright “this happens all the time with Hertz,” before he was allowed to go when the manager arrived.
Wright says the incident has had a serious impact on his daughter, who is now 14. She is in therapy and is struggling to cope with seeing police officers on the street, he said.
“As a 14-year-old young lady that is going to be a long-term thing that she’s probably going to struggle with for the rest of her life,” Wright said, “Hertz needs to be held accountable.”
Francis Malofiy, who is representing nearly 400 plaintiffs filing against Hertz, told Insider: “You’re basically having taxpayers in the government subsidize the inventory control for a private corporation. It’s much cheaper to shift that burden to taxpayers and put these police in the worst possible position when they already have a fractured relationship with communities.”
In a statement to Insider about the lawsuit, a Hertz spokesperson said: “Hertz cares deeply about our customers, and we successfully provide rental vehicles for tens of millions of travelers each year.
“Where our customers have been negatively affected, we are committed to doing what is right by our customers. At the same time, we will protect and defend against false claims intended to cause our company harm.”
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