Angry man bought "lemon," turns N.H. dealer's lot into drive-thru, smashes cars

(CBS/AP) PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - If you bought a lemon from a used car dealer who said he wouldn't take it back, would you crash it into other vehicles sitting on the dealer's lot?

David Cross of Salisbury, Mass. would clearly answer in the affirmative.

Police say Cross was angry with the New Hampshire dealer who sold him a van, so he deliberately plowed into six other vehicles, causing an estimated $20,000 in damages.

Police say Cross bought the van from the Portsmouth Used Car Superstore on Monday. He tried to return it Tuesday after a mechanic found it had a host of problems, but was spurned by the seller. He allegedly drove it back to the dealer just before midnight Tuesday, and rammed the van into the other vehicles.

Cross said he was driven by anger, not drugs or alcohol.

"I hit the first $25,000 car I could see," he told the Portsmouth Herald. "I didn't hit a car under $20,000. Then I moved a van that they wouldn't come down on the price for. I moved it with the lemon they sold me. I just held it to the floor until I couldn't move it anymore. I took out seven vehicles, including my own."

As for the van he'd purchased, he told the newspaper, "It was a piece of crap," adding that his mechanic looked at it after he'd bought it and found a host of problems, including an odometer that didn't work.

He said the mechanic told him to "take it back."

Cross said he went back to the dealer, asked for a refund and was told "you're stuck with it." So he began negotiating the price for another van, but a salesman wouldn't budge, the Herald reported.

"I'm stuck with it now," he said. "But I got my point across."

Cross is facing six counts of criminal mischief. He was released on personal recognizance.