San Diego Prius Victim Is Bankrupt. Is He Faking It?
Mar 11, 2010 - By Chris Weiss 
Jalopnik posted an interesting, if purely speculative, report questioning whether or not James Sikes, the Prius driver that made headlines when his car sped out of control on a San Diego freeway, is a victim or a scam artist with financial motivation. According to the piece, Sikes filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and is in debt for $700,000 thanks to the toileting real estate market. He’s also reportedly slipped behind on his Prius payments. The article speculates that Mr. Sikes’ recent incident may have been faked in order to slip his way out of some of the debt.
For his part, Mr. Sikes denies any financial motivation, states that he’s up to date with car payments and says he has no intention of suing Toyota. Until he makes such a move, we have no concrete reason to think he faked the incident for the dough.
What do you think? Do we have another Richard Heene on our hands? [via Jalopnik]
Thursday, March 11, 2010 10:23PM
http://www.hobbub.com/news/james-sikes-is-a-liar-...
Friday, March 12, 2010 1:40AM
How absolutely ignorant of people to believe that, Toyota is pushing rumor. That company is a bunch of worthless pigs. I just read an article where Toyota was trying to cast doubt on this man's character, they make cars that are deathtraps and then try to blame the victim……. pigs.
Friday, March 12, 2010 9:09AM
I don't know Jim Sikes personally, but I've got a story about his character…………..he had his San Diego house in Bonita foreclosed on last year, and before surrendering possession back to the bank….."someone gutted the ENTIRE kitchen out of his upscale 4,000 sq ft home……right down to the wall studs!
Saturday, March 13, 2010 4:04PM
My initial thought when heard this story was fraud. If you are too afraid to shift your vehicle into neutral then perhaps you are not competent enough to be driving at all. If you listen to the 911 call, the operator told him to turn off the vehicle and he did not even respond. He is being represented by the law firm that is suing Toyota for a prior accident last year. If he was not interested in suing Toyota, then why even need legal representation? The story does not add up. Balloon boy part 2.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 3:22AM
KUDZU: You are one ignorant liberal moron. Your hatred of corporations clouds your rational thought. Unfortunately, the world is being slowly infested with wimp-assed individuals like yourself, kind of the way kudzu grows in the south.