Man says he drove car through showroom doors out of 'sadness and rage'

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Michael Murray says he drove his car into a Sandy dealership due to emotional distress.
Murray sought a refund for a $4,000 car, purchased "as is." He faces charges and says he regrets his actions.
Dealership employees reported being terrified by his actions and say they had tried to work with him to find a solution.

SANDY — The man who police say drove his car through the showroom of a Sandy car dealership on Monday is out of jail, sharing his side of the story with us.

Michael Murray, who says he has faced a series of personal challenges over the past year, admitted that he was frustrated and emotionally drained when he crashed his newly purchased car into the Tim Dahle dealership building. The incident, caught on camera, is one that Murray says he does not take lightly.

"I know that me crashing that car into the building was wrong," Murray said, visibly emotional. He said he felt everything was going wrong and that was the last straw.

Employees at the dealership reported being terrified by Murray's actions and say they tried to work with him to find a solution.

Murray explained that hours after purchasing the used car, he discovered issues with it that he believed were not disclosed to him during the sale. Feeling betrayed, he wanted his $4,000 back.

"I'm tired of being here and trying to be a productive member of society just to keep getting knocked down and told no," he said, referencing what he described as a series of personal setbacks over the past year. His frustration and desperation culminated in the chaotic incident at the dealership.

According to witnesses, Murray had purchased the car earlier that day, fully aware it was an "as-is" vehicle. However, after driving it for a short period, he returned to the dealership claiming the car had problems. He demanded an immediate refund of his $4,000.

The dealership maintains it attempted to resolve the situation by offering alternatives, but Murray disputes this. Regardless, he said he regrets his actions.

Michael Murray talks with KSL-TV reporter Debbie Worthen on Tuesday. Murray admitted he was frustrated and emotionally drained when he crashed his newly purchased car into the Tim Dahle dealership building in Sandy on Monday. (Photo: Mark Less, KSL-TV)

Murray now faces several charges, including at least one felony. He has a court appearance scheduled for Wednesday and admits that his actions have created significant financial and legal consequences for him.

"I know I've dug myself a financial grave," he said, reflecting on the mess he now finds himself in.

Despite the legal fallout, Murray hopes that sharing his story might resonate with others.

"I'm not the only person going through tough times. Maybe telling my story will help someone else avoid doing what I did," he said.

Dealership was selling car 'as-is'

Inside the Tim Dahle dealership, employees reported feeling terrified as Murray stormed back to the showroom. They say they are very lucky no one was killed, critically injured, or even hurt in the incident.

"Just a slam and bam. It sounded like this big TV monitor was crashing down," the dealership's platform manager, Tyler Slade said. "It's terribly frightening and the emotional trauma of it, of what could have been."

Slade said Murray came in saying he had $4,000 and wanted to buy a car. Slade said they had an older Subaru Outback wagon that came in on a trade that they told him would work.

"We even make the document hot pink so they truly understand this is a vehicle that is 'as-is.' It hasn't been inspected. But if it fits your budget, we will let you take it," Slade said.

"Several hours later he came in very emotionally charged and upset and wanted to have his money back immediately. My finance manager tried to calm him down, 'Let's figure this out. We have plenty of solutions. We can give you your money back. We can find you another car, talk about the repairs that might be needed."

Slade said they couldn't immediately give him his $4,000 back. They had put it in a safe and didn't have immediate access. Slade said that didn't sit well with Murray.

"He said if you don't give me my money back right now, I'm going to drive this car right through the front door. 'You don't need to do that,' tried to calm him down again, but there was no talking him off the ledge per se," said Slade.

"The finance manager was like, 'Hey, I can't calm this guy down. He's heading out to the car. He's threatening to do this.' We rallied everybody in the dealership to clear the area."

Slade said Murray then parked his car outside the front doors and revved his engine before smashing through the doors.

Front desk was empty

The car took out a front greeting desk where someone was usually sitting. Slade said luckily the employee was not working that day and no one was near that desk.

"We feel very fortunate and blessed she wasn't here," Slade said.

After smashing his car through the front doors, Slade said Murray stood out front waiting for police to arrive and arrest him.

Photos

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.