Police say car dealer Reed used vehicle without permission

BMW owner thought he was taking spin around the block

One of Charleston's best-known car dealers may have taken a late-night test drive too far.

Gene Reed was arrested outside his downtown Charleston home early Thursday after taking someone else's BMW convertible for a lengthy spin outside a Mount Pleasant bar and restaurant.

The owner of the car thought Reed was taking the car around the block. Police later found Reed and the car outside his Meeting Street home.

The car, a silver 650i, had bumped into the property's front gate, "causing some gouging on the front bumper," a Mount Pleasant police incident report says.

Reed, 69, was arrested and charged with use of a vehicle without permission, a misdemeanor. He referred all questions to his attorneys.

Andy Savage, one of Reed's lawyers, said Friday that Reed made a mistake and had no intention to criminally deprive anyone of their car. "He feels terrible" about the event, Savage said. The BMW carries a suggested retail price of $81,700.

The event started around midnight Wednesday at the Red Drum Gastropub on Coleman Boulevard.

Reed, according to a police incident report, approached the vehicle's owner, identified as Chris A. McIntosh, and said he wanted to get a BMW.

McIntosh let Reed sit in the driver's seat for a moment, the police report says.

Once seated behind the wheel, Reed asked how to lower the convertible roof and other aspects of the car.

"Reed handed the valet some money and drove off in McIntosh's BMW," the report says.

Police were able to trace Reed's residence from the license tag of his blue Bentley convertible still parked at the Red Drum.

When police spotted the car outside Reed's Charleston home, Reed insisted he was driving the Bentley, which is more than twice as expensive as the BMW.

Reed was released Thursday afternoon from the Charleston County Detention Center on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond, a jail records official said.