How This Brooklyn Woman’s Hapless Mom Managed to Accidentally Steal a Green Honda
"Is this your car or do you know whose it is? Looking for the
owner who potentially wears a lot of necklaces and enjoys San Pellegrino
sodas. I didn't steal your car but I think my mom may have. It's a long
story. I'll explain, but your car is safe and sound."
When Nekisia Davis, a Red Hook granola
maker, took a weekend trip to Miami with her friends earlier this
month, she used her extra airline miles to fly her mother up from
Houston to dog-sit. In addition to taking care of Ruby, Davis's
Pomeranian mix, her mom was tasked with moving the group's vehicles. "My
car's the Fiat, Betsy's is the CRV, Deanna has a green Honda," Davis
instructed her.
"She sent a text later saying that all the cars were successfully
moved: 'I'm so proud of myself,'" Davis explained this morning to Daily
Intelligencer from Fort Defiance, the neighborhood café where the
bizarre sign above is posted. It wasn't until they got back from
vacation that things got weird.
Davis and her friends arrived from Florida late on Monday night,
but Deanna couldn't find her car where it was supposed to be, one block
south of where it was when she left it, closer to the water. She spent
the night on the couch and decided to deal with it in the morning.
"Well, that's the car that I moved with your keys," said Davis's
mom the next day, pointing at a four-door, green Honda Civic. "Deanna
wears a lot of necklaces, and this car had a bunch of necklaces around
the mirror. It just seemed like Deanna's car," said Davis.
As it turns out, Honda keys — as the long-rumored urban legend
goes — really do work on more than one vehicle, or at least Deanna's
did. "Deanna's car was right where she left it. It didn't get towed; it
didn't even get ticketed," said Davis. "Sometimes they're not so
vigilant on the side streets around here."
The car Davis's mom managed to move has California plates, she
said, and local business owners remembered seeing the couple driving to
take a distillery tour on Sunday. "It's like a small town down here,"
said Davis. "Everybody knows everybody."
She believes the car was reported stolen, but said police at the
local 76th precinct have not been helpful. "I called the cops. They were
like, 'I'm sorry, this sounds suspicious, and I don't really believe
you.'" (A detective at the precinct told Daily Intelligencer that he
couldn't comment, but would look into it. Update, 1:15 p.m.: The
NYPD has confirmed that the car was reported stolen on Sunday, April 6.
An officer has been sent to recover the vehicle while they try to get in
touch with the owner.)
Davis said the signs haven't generated any leads yet, but that
she has told the story to a few curious drunk people who'd called about
it. "The car's still parked on my street. I don't know what to do!" she
said. "It's going to get ticketed on Friday."
As for her mom, back in Texas, she has a new story to tell at
parties. "This is just a true situation of a mom who was trying to do a
good deed and stole a car," said Davis. "She keeps saying, 'I think we
should pitch it to Ellen!'"
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/04/brooklyn-womans-mom-accidentally-steals-car.html