Wait, did he tractor in the cargo he dropped? If so, then that's really bad...
I've had an experience with this tonight, some little freighter opened up rather than pay a nice low fee for his nice low level, and I killed him fairly easily. Odin > Kushan FR. He starts swearing, undocks with more cargo, but this time manages to redock before I blast him again (after once again demanding tax). It was aggravating enough with the swearing and the incredibly rude Spanish that came across (English can only go so far, but Spanish can get NASTY...), but the respawning really got the nerves... at least karma came into play and my next pirating went a little more successful, with a trader vowing to not do diamonds! Hooray for propaganda!