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Appliance Repairman Arrested Following Alleged Attack On Homeowner

By Jeff Todd

ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - A man says he was physically assaulted by an appliance repairman on Saturday.

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(credit: CBS)

"I was just glad I wasn't seriously injured because it could have ended a lot worse," said Jason Griffith.

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Jason Griffith (credit: CBS)

Griffith had been waiting a month for Sears to fix his washing machine because of delays over a part being ordered. The fight occurred because the part was wrong.

"He was having the worst day of his life I guess, because he seemed so angry about it," Griffith said about the technician.

"He came out Saturday with the part and started taking the machine apart and then told us 'Ma'am I have the wrong part.' I said 'Let's just put it back together and get the right part and go from there.'" said Griffith. "And that's when he just kind of got irate. He just threw his stuff down and started swinging on me."

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(credit: CBS)

After the fight outside the home, neighbors jumped in to stop the attack.

The suspect, Flint Van Geison, allegedly tried to run over Griffith and another man.

Vangeison Flint
Flint Van Geison (credit: Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office)

"He just threw it in gear and stepped on the gas and he hit me. I fell onto the hood," Griffith said. "I rode on the hood for maybe five feet and then as he turned the corner I fell into the neighbor's grass."

Arapahoe County Sheriff's deputies arrested Van Geison and charged him with criminal mischief and third degree assault.

"Maybe, you know, Sears thinks twice before they send this guy out to somebody else's house and something similar happens or something worse happens," Griffith said.

Sears told CBS4 in a statement:

"Sears Home Services values the safety of our customers. We are cooperating fully with the police investigation of the alleged behavior. The incident involved a third-party contractor and was not a company-owned operation. We are taking action to ensure that the contractor is suspended, pending investigation."

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(credit: CBS)

"All we really want is to get the thing fixed properly. Or at least to the state it was in before he came out," said Griffith.

Jeff Todd joined the CBS4 team in 2011 covering the Western Slope in the Mountain Newsroom. Since 2015 he's been working across the Front Range in the Denver Headquarters. Follow him on Twitter @CBS4Jeff.

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