GOLDSBORO, Md. - We are learning more about the Goldsboro man accused of a 4-hour standoff with police on Monday.
The Caroline County Sheriff's office says 40-year-old Thomas Lee Miller Jr. threatened a tow truck driver. The alleged victim, Joseph Lituski, tells WBOC that it happened at a home on Main Street in Goldsboro at around 12 p.m., as he was repossessing a car.
Lituski recorded the interaction with the GoPro on his tow truck. Investigators say Mille pointed a shotgun at Lituski, demanding he release his car.
Lituski told us he has never seen anything like this in his almost four years of repossessing cars. And, what went through his head was to duck and get out of danger. But how Lituski acted was calm and collected.
Miller was in the the car as Lituski came to repossess the vehicle. And in the passenger seat was a shotgun.
In the GoPro video Miller shouted, "Let me get my **** out of the vehicle! Let me get my **** out of the vehicle" as he pointed the shotgun at Lituski's head. Miller then said, "Put the vehicle down before I blow your ****** head off."
"He wouldn't take the gun down from my head," Lituski says. "He had it head high the whole time. There was not one time where he put it down until I started pulling away."
Lituski put the car down and started to drive away. Until he realized he knew Miller. Lituski said they had worked together 15 years ago. But, the two knowing each other did not mean Miller would back down.
The video then showed Lituski saying, "I've got police right at the corner store. I'm not trying to get you hemmed up, I know you. You don't want to go out of here with that because they're going to get you."
To which Miller replied, "No the **** they're not. They're gonna get this. "They're gonna get this tell them to come get it."
Police took Miller into custody after several hours and Lituski eventually did repossess the car.
"I've had people pull weapons, bats, chase me around the car, Tasers and pepper spray. But nothing to that extent," says Lituski.
It was a scary scene for Lituski, something he will always remember and hopes he never goes through again.
Lituski refuses to dwell on the past. He was back to work with his tow truck on Tuesday.
As for Miller, after hours of negotiation on Monday afternoon, he surrendered to law enforcement and was taken into custody shortly before 4:30.
He is being held without bond on the charges of first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and rifle/shotgun possession-disqualification because of a final protective order.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 23 in Caroline County District Court.