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Mechanic Caught On Dashcam Taking Speedy Joyride With Child In Customer’s Car

A Rhode Island man who took his 2013 Mazdaspeed 3 in to a Ford dealership last month found his dashcam camera caught a six-minute joyride by a mechanic — including talk of drinking and a trip with a young child in the back seat who can be heard worrying the car is going too fast.

According to Cranston, R.I., Patch, the owner, Alex Leach, 26, found the video after getting his car back from Tasca Automotive Group. The clip above is just a portion of the trip, where the mechanic talks about having some wine earlier in the day, speeds around and sings songs. At one point, he pulls over to pick up a small child, and asks “how are we gonna do 2 fast 2 furious without shoes?” The mechanic then tosses the 263-hp hot hatch around city streets, with the child in back.

The mechanic apparently turned off the dashcam at the end of the ride.

Leach said the Tasca group was at first apologetic about the incident, but on subsequent conversations defended the mechanic. Bob Tasca Jr., president of Tasca Automotive, told WLNE-TV the mechanic, Victor Simoes, was not driving irresponsibly, and that dashcams make things look worse than they really are. “I will stand behind my guy, Victor, 100%.  He’s worked for this company for 25 years, and he was not intoxicated driving that vehicle. Absolutely not.”

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Simoes told WPRI-TV he did have a sip of homemade wine after work, but that he never drove recklessly or speeded: “There’s cops out there and would have stopped me.”

Tasca told both stations he was working with Leach on some kind of deal to settle the dispute.