While police misconduct gets plenty of negative attention, as the saying goes, not one’s ever written a song called “Fu*k the Fire Department.” One New Jersey man, however, might be the first, after the local fire chief allegedly damaged his Nissan over a dispute related to how water drained off his property. Typically, dumping rocks and dirt on an old Nissan wouldn’t do much to the already rock-bottom value of what’s almost assuredly an already-dinged and dented car, but that wasn’t the case here. The car the fire chief vandalized is an incredibly rare 1995 Nismo 270R previously owned by Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya. Now, the owner is suing for $500,000, MyCentralJersey reports.
The story saga began last May, when Piscataway Fire Chief Josh Scolnick decided the best way to resolve a dispute with the fire station’s neighbor, Mark Bahna, was to damage his car. According to the lawsuit, Scolnick “threw buckets of rocks, dirt and debris onto the vehicle because he did not like how water allegedly drained from the property onto the fire station property.” The rocks and other debris caused “extensive damage including scratches, dents, cracks, and chips to the paint, decals, lights, glass and other exterior features.”
So how did Bahna figure out who damaged the car? He checked his security camera and saw it had caught Scolnick in the act.
While it’s not the main point here, it’s also worth noting that Scolnick was reportedly on duty at the time. When the cops showed up to question him, Scolnick admitted he’d vandalized the car. The Piscataway Police Department charged him with third-degree vandalism, although he later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of disorderly conduct and had to pay $7,973 in restitution.
This was no ordinary 1995 Nissan Nismo 270R
If the Nissan that Scolnick had damaged had been a regular 240SX, his actions still would have been both wrong and completely uncalled for. What was that supposed to accomplish other than making things worse between Bahna and the fire department? As Bahna, who is a manager for Montclair Auto Sales Group, argues in the lawsuit, however, the $7,973 he was paid doesn’t exactly cover the money he lost in the process. It’s a one-of-30 car, and this example was reportedly a numbers-matching example in close to showroom condition with the original paint and decals. Beyond that, it was also owned and raced by Japan’s LeMans winner and Drift King, Keiichi Tsuchiya.
That’s some serious provenance for an already incredibly rare car, and according to the lawsuit, at the time Scolnick dumped rocks on the car, Bahna had a collector lined up to buy it for $500,000. After they found out about the damage, the buyer withdrew their offer. As CarScoops points out, we haven’t seen 270Rs sell for anything close to that recently, but previous examples hadn’t already been imported to the U.S. and titled, nor were they in original condition, and they hadn’t been owned by anyone as legendary as Tsuchiya, either.
$500,000 in damages?
Maybe $500,000 is more than it was actually worth at the time, but if he really had someone ready to pay that kind of money for such a rare car, then at least one person thought it was worth that much. Since Scolnick already admitted to vandalizing the car and has since pleaded guilty, whether he’s responsible or not isn’t really in question, here. Instead, it’s whether or not Bahna can convince the judge he deserves to be compensated for the lost sale.
Maybe the judge will agree he deserves the full $500,000; maybe not. Odds are, though, the hardest part won’t be winning the lawsuit, even if Bahna ends up being awarded less than he’s asking for. Instead, it’s going to be getting hundreds of thousands of dollars out of a volunteer fire chief who likely doesn’t have that kind of money lying around. Piscataway Fire District No. 3 and Piscataway Township are also named in the lawsuit, so they could end up having to pay, but ultimately, it’s all up to the court and what the judge decides.
