02x118 - Car Thief Hit-and-Run

[bunniefuu]

Your daughter was involved
in a hit-and-run.

I believe my daughter.

Your daughter ran away.

She's 14 years old,
she could've k*lled people.

When did you call the police?

The answer is you did not!

Well, this is the example
that you're setting.

That's a great lesson.

[announcer]
This is Judy Justice.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Tonya Atkins
is suing vehicle owner Kelly Depangher

for damages and lost wages
from a car accident.

[bailiff]
Court, come to order.

All rise.

Have a seat, please.

Hello, Judge.

Case 2165, Atkins versus Depangher.

-Thank you very much.
-You're welcome.

-Tell me your first name.
-Destanie.

[Judy]
How old are you, Destanie?

I'm 14.

And you don't have a driver's license.

No, ma'am.

[Judy] So you know you're not allowed
to drive a car?

Yes, I do.

You took your mother's car
without permission.

I did.

-[Judy] You were with a girlfriend.
-Yes, ma'am.

-[Judy] Who also is your age.
-Mm-hmm.

"Uh-huh" is not an answer.

Yes, ma'am.

And you stole your mother's car
on what date?

October 7th or 8th.

[Judy]
Where was your mother?

Sleeping.

What time did you steal your mother's car?

Around, uh...



-Around that time.
-What?

Like, I'd say about 3:30.

I'm sorry.

The morning, afternoon, or evening?

In the morning, a.m.

-3:30 in the morning.
-Yes, ma'am.

[Judy]
And you had an accident.

Yes, ma'am.

You had an accident with this lady's car.

Yes, ma'am.

And instead of stopping,
you took off. Right?

Yes, ma'am.

[Judy]
And it was a bad accident.

Yes, ma'am.

And was the damage
to the side of your car?

-[Judy] Just... Just...
-It was...

-Was the damage to the side of your car?
-[Destanie] No, ma'am.

[Judy]
Passenger side?

-No, ma'am.
-[Judy] Just...

Don't play.

Passenger side? No.

Driver's side? No.

Where was the damage to your car?

-The front.
-[Judy] Front!

Okay, so now that I've got
the clear picture.

You stole your mother's car.

You have no driver's license.

Whatever insurance
your mother had on the car

would certainly not cover
this accident

because you're an unauthorized driver,
you have no driver's license.

Your mother certainly wasn't going
to report you to the police

for stealing her car.
I don't think you did that.

-Right?
-No, ma'am.

And the damage to your car
was in the front.

Front.

You're gonna tell me,
but just so that I know,

the damage to your car was on the side.

-Yes, ma'am.
-[Judy] Of course.

You see, cars don't slide together.

Do you know what I mean?
One car hits another.

-Mm-hmm.
-[Judy] Do you understand?

-"Uh-huh" is not an answer.
-Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

[Judy] Better.

Okay, so now we're gonna go
to October 8th.

-Yes, Your Honor.
-[Judy] Okay?

You were on your way to work?

Yes, ma'am.

[Judy]
And, Miss Atkins, tell me what happened.

I was going to work,
it was 5:30 in the morning.

I was going up Franklin Road.

I got to Brookville Road.

You were driving straight.

[Tonya]
Yes, I'm going up Franklin Road.

-[Judy] Mm-hmm.
-I get to a light at Brookville Road,

I make a stop because the light is red.

I'm sitting at the red light,

the light changes green,
I proceed to go through the light,

at the green light.

The defendant is coming
the opposite way from me.

She's in the... not in the turning lane,

she's in the regular straight lane,
so I see her coming at a rapid speed.

But I'm thinking she's going straight,
so I proceed to go through the light.

By the time I get mid-light,
I don't know what happened,

but she decides to turn.

And when she turns,
she turns right into me,

like, and hits me.

Okay, and then what happened?

And then I hear her
and her friends are...

Her friend is hollering, "Run, Destanie!
We have to go!

Run, Destanie! We have to go!"

I'm still trying to get myself together.

And I'm looking

and all I could do was grab my phone
and dial 911 to call the police.

And by that time, they were gone.

And by that time, they were gone.

Miss Atkins, how did you find her?

We talked to the insurance company...

-[Judy] No, no, wait, wait a second.
-Okay.

How did you find her? They took off.

-[Tonya] Oh, they took off.
-[Judy] They took off.

Her car was still at the accident.

Oh! So they ran and left the car.

Yes, ma'am.

[Judy] Ohh.

So my husband came,
I had called my husband as well.

He came to the accident scene.

He took pictures of the cars
and the plates.

And we contacted our insurance,
our insurance gave us the name,

and I went on Facebook
and I looked her up.

And I seen Destanie,

who I had seen run from the accident.

And we found out
she was hiring for a job, so...

inboxed her, found out where she worked,
and we went to her job.

-You mean the... her mother.
-Her mother.

-Inboxed me?
-[Judy] Mother.

My daughter inboxed you
and asked you what...

Shh, don't speak to her.

[Tonya]
Okay, I'm sorry.

Don't speak to her.

-[Tonya] Okay.
-[Kelly] What?

[Judy]
Listen to me.

Whatever you say is no good.

Just understand that.

Your daughter stole your car,

she's 14 years old,

she could've k*lled people.

She could've k*lled people.

There's no excuse for that.

There's no excuse for stealing your car.

-Has she ever done it before?
-No.

But she did.

-Yes, ma'am.
-[Judy] Okay?

And she did, and she had an accident.

Because she didn't have
a driver's license,

she lacked state permission
to be behind the wheel of a car.

[theme music playing]

Let's go. Did you know your daughter
had been in an accident?

Of course you did
'cause she left the car there.

-Right?
-Yes.

[Judy]
So you knew she had been in an accident.

Yes.

Did you contact the police?

No.

Why not?

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Tonya Atkins
claims vehicle owner Kelly Depangher

owes for damages

after Kelly's 14-year-old daughter
crashed into her car.

[Judy] So she didn't have
a driver's license,

she lacked state permission
to be behind the wheel of a car.

But she still harassed me, though.

-[Judy] What?
-At my job.

She harassed me at my job.

[Judy]
Just a second.

Did she contact you first?

-Well, as far as...
-[Judy] Just as anything... it's contact.

-No.
-[Judy] Email.

-So you're going to tell me...
-I don't know who her daughter was.

[Judy] What?

I didn't know who her daughter was,
trying to contact me on Facebook.

Did you know your daughter
had been in an accident?

Let's go. Did you know your daughter
had been in an accident?

Of course you did
'cause she left the car there.

-Right?
-Yes.

[Judy]
So you knew she had been in an accident.

-Yes.
-[Judy] Right?

Did you contact the police?

No.

Why not?

She came to the house freaking out,

and, you know, in panic
of her getting in an accident.

-And my daughter is telling me...
-Just a second. So what did you do?

What did you do?
Your daughter stole your car.

I see the picture of the accident.

The picture of the accident clearly shows
that your daughter hit her car.

Your daughter's car is the grey one.

This is the very first time
I've seen this.

[Judy]
Well, I'm telling you.

When you have front-end damage
that means you hit somebody.

She's wrong from the get-go.

So I'm asking you, she came home,
you told somebody,

did you call the police and say,
"Listen, my 14-year-old daughter

took my car without permission,
there was a bad accident.

I hope nobody was hurt."
Did you do that?

-No, I did not.
-[Judy] No.

Of course not.

You waited for somebody to find you.

-No, not necessarily.
-[Judy] Well...

What do you mean "not necessarily"?
Unless you contacted somebody.

-Did you go back to...
-I was under the impression that

they called the police. I...

How did... just a second,
what would give you that impression?

Your daughter ran away.

She said that cops were called.

How did she know the cops were called?
She ran away.

-What?
-The cops were there.

One of the...
a cop had spoke to me that night.

-I was...
-After the accident.

No, before. I mean, yeah,
after the accident, but...

Well, the accident happened


The officer spoke to you at night,
that's after the accident.

Yes, ma'am,
but there's a fire department

right by where
we got into the accident at.

And there was a police car parked
while I was fleeing the scene.

And he had asked me what I was doing.

And I told him that I was fine,

and that there has just been
a car accident.

And he went.

And the policeman told you to leave?

-[Destanie] No.
-[laughs]

You stopped and spoke to a policeman,

that there had been
this kind of car accident,

-that you were driving...
-[Destanie] I said that...

[Judy] ...you were driving
and the policeman told you to leave?

-I never said that I was driving, ma'am.
-[Judy] Okay.

Did you notify your insurance company?

-Unfortunately...
-[Judy] Shh!

That's either a yes or a no.

No, because I don't have insurance,
it lapsed.

Double whammy.

[Kelly] It lapsed.

So your daughter follows
in her mother's...

This is the example that you're setting.

She's driving your car without a license,

and you have a car that has no insurance.

That's a great lesson.

And so what happens
is a perfect storm.

Your car without insurance,

driven by your unlicensed minor child,

causes a stupendous accident
where someone could have been k*lled.

You don't call the police.

Did you go and look
at the scene of the accident?

It's either a yes or a no.

-Not the scene.
-[Judy] The scene.

I'm talking about the scene
of the accident.

Your daughter came home,
did she tell you right away what happened?

Shh! What time did your daughter get home?

About 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning.

[Judy] Well, where did she go
after the accident? Did you ask her?

She was waiting for a ride.

She had woke me up in my sleep
and told me about the accident.

So the accident that happened


or 5:30, so she was driving around
for a couple of hours

before the accident happened,

happened 5:30,
an hour and a half later,

-she woke you up?
-Yes.

-[Judy] Is that what you're telling me?
-Yes, ma'am.

And did she tell you
where the accident happened?

[Kelly] Yes.

-[Judy] And what did you do?
-We...

[Judy] 7:30 in the morning,
she had a terrible accident,

she told you where it happened.

Did she tell you that she ran away
from the accident?

Yes.

What did you do?

-Well, she does have severe asthma.
-[Judy] Just a sec.

I don't care whether she has severe asthma
or not, it's irrelevant to me.

-I'm asking you what you did.
-Right.

What you did. Your daughter calls you...

-Not from the house.
-She comes in the house.

[Judy]
Oh, I thought you said she called you.

Not important.

She came into the house at 7:30,
she told you that she stole the car,

went for a joyride with her friend,
whatever language she used,

and she had a very bad accident,
the car was demolished.

-Mm-hmm.
-[Judy] Right?

-Yes, ma'am.
-[Judy] What did you do?


I wanna know what you did,



What did you do?

She wakes me up, I'm freaking out,
she's freaking out...

I don't care freaking...
I don't care freaking out.

-It's not relevant.
-What did you do?

Don't speak to your mother.

I'm asking your mother a question.

What did you do?

As soon as she told me that,
I was freaking out about it,

and I went into mommy mode

because she was outside in hours,
cold, cold, waiting for a ride,

and she was having asthma problems,
she was in a panic.

So I immediately, you know, I was trying
to figure out what's going on,

but I also wanted to make sure
that my daughter was okay.

-Oh, well, that takes a half hour.
-[Kelly] So I went to her room...

That takes a half hour.
What did you do at 8:00?

And I gave her a breathing treatment.

After you gave her
the breathing treatment,

that's 8:00, now it's 8:15.

As we're giving her treatment,
we're looking through the internet

and looking to see what tow companies...
what place would have our car.

And we finally figured out
where our car was,

and I got a ride to go look at my car.

What time? What time?

I would say maybe about 9:00, 10:00.

Okay, when was the call to the police?

Now you took care of your daughter,
you gave her a breathing treatment.

You looked through the internet.
When did you call the police?

Your daughter was involved
in a hit-and-run.

I was under the assumption
that the police were called.

Who told you that?

That the police was at the scene.

[Judy]
Just a second.

Who told you that? She ran away.

Well, I did know that the car
got sent to a police, like, impound,

like, towing company.

You didn't know that
until you looked it up.

[Kelly] Right.

I'm asking you
when you called the police.

So I...

-[Judy] The answer is you did not.
-No, I did not.

Okay, now, so I don't have
to go look any further.

No insurance.

No driver's license.

Fled the scene. Her fault.

[theme music playing]

[Judy] How dare you have a car
on the road without insurance.

And how dare you
place other people at risk

by getting behind the wheel of a car

when you're 14 years old
and have no business doing that.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Tonya Atkins is accusing
vehicle owner Kelly Depangher

of refusing to pay for damages

after Kelly's 14-year-old daughter
crashed into Tonya's car.

-So now you have insurance.
-Yes, ma'am.

-[Judy] And there was a note on the car.
-Yes, ma'am.

The car is totaled.

-It looks like it's a totaled car to me.
-[Tonya] Yes, ma'am.

How much was left on the note for the car?

[Tonya] 35,000.

-[Judy] Was left on the note?
-Yes, ma'am.

Okay, I'll take a look
at those papers in a sec.

And then what was the check
from insurance?

They paid 30,000.

Can I see, please?

Uh-oh. I don't have my glasses,
and they're in my purse, I'm sorry. Can...

-Maybe your husband can help you.
-Yes, ma'am, thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

[Judy] So am I correct
that they paid you 35,749?

Is that what they paid you?

That's what they paid the dealership,
yes, ma'am.


was 39,800?

That is correct.

And you hadn't made any payments?

Yes, ma'am, we've made payments.

This is 39,826,
but you made payments,

so that would reduce
the amount of the loan.

[John] This is the original copy
of when we purchased the vehicle.

And then I have a list of the payments
that we made right here.

[Judy]
What I want to know is,

you're suing for the difference
between what was paid...

-Yes, ma'am.
-[Judy] ...to the loan company

and what you still owed
that you had to make good on.

-Correct?
-Correct.

How much money
did you have to make good on

to the loan company?

-It's not $5,000.
-No.

How much money did you have to pay
the loan company

to clear the debt?

What we had was called a gap insurance.

-[Judy] So you had gap.
-Yes, ma'am.

[Judy]
So all you had was a deductible.

So all you had to pay was,
if you had gap...

-Which was a $500 deductible.
-[Judy] Just a sec.

-Sorry.
-[Judy] That's all.

That's what I wanna know,
you had gap insurance,

so the gap covered whatever the...

The gap didn't cover
the complete loss of the vehicle

because they said we didn't have
uninsured motorist.

So we had to come out of pocket.

-[Judy] So now I want you to show me...
-Yes, ma'am.

...what your out of pocket was.

-[Judy] Thank you.
-Yes, ma'am.

I'm not understanding this.

You wanna tell me what
the out of pocket is?

-Gap paid the...
-[Judy] Gap paid. How much?

-The rest besides 17...
-[Judy] 1,756.

Yes, ma'am. That's what we owe,
out of pocket.

-Okay. Not 5,000. 1,756.
-[Tonya] No, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

[Judy] Okay.

Well, that certainly
has to make you whole.

I knew it wasn't 5,000
because it says you have gap insurance.

-Yes. Yes, ma'am.
-Yes, ma'am.

Great. 1,756.

Now, you were taken
from that accident scene

-to the hospital?
-Yes, ma'am.

[Judy]
Which hospital?

To Community East.

-[Judy] Were you taken by ambulance?
-Yes, ma'am.

-Did you stay in the hospital?
-No, ma'am.

[Judy] Okay, did you have
any uncovered medical bills?

No, ma'am.

-[Judy] Were they all covered?
-Yes, ma'am.

Okay, so your out-of-pocket expense
is $1,756.

Yes, ma'am.

And the discomfort that brought you
to the hospital.

Yes, ma'am, and I have a lost wage paper
from my employer as well.

I'd like to see it.

Also, if I may say, ma'am,
we had to rent a car,

obviously, because her car was totaled,
and the bill is in there as well.

[Judy] Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Well, your out-of-pocket expenses
including your lost wages

because you didn't work full shift...

You are an hourly employee.

Those expenses, your car expenses,
the 1,756,

all amount to about $3,000.

You're suing the defendant
for $8,000.

-Right?
-Yes, ma'am.

I'm awarding you the $8,000.

How dare you have a car on the road
without insurance.

And how dare you
place other people at risk

by getting behind the wheel of a car

when you're 14 years old
and have no business doing that.

Do you own or rent your own home?

We rent.

[Judy]
You rent. Do you work?

At the moment, no.

-[Judy] Were you working then?
-Yes.

Okay. What happened to your job?
That's what you're going to tell me.

You're going to tell me she came
and she harassed...

She harassed you at your job.
Tell me how.

They both did.

-Well...
-[Judy] No, I just...

Not both. Her.

-The...
-[Judy] Plaintiff.

Well, her husband is the one
that did the talking.

-[Judy] And he said?
-[Tonya] And he told me...

I have never seen the accident until now,
so I have no idea. I believe my daughter.

Well, you shouldn't.
Why would you believe a thief?

-[Tonya] No.
-And a liar.

Believe that what happened.

But why would you believe
a thief and a liar?

She may be a thief and a liar,
but she's not stupid.

If the plaintiff hit her,
she would have stayed at the scene

'cause she got hit.

Doesn't that make sense to you?

That if she was the one
who was in the right

and got hit by the plaintiff,

she would have remained.

She said she saw a police car there.

And she spoke to a policeman.

So if she was in the right
in the accident,

what'd she leave for?

Okay, you don't know.

Judgement for the plaintiff, $8,000.
We're done.

-Thank you, Your Honor.
-[bailiff] This court is adjourned.

It was very frightening.

I've never been in an accident before,

and so that time of morning
I'm on my way to work.

[chuckles]
So I'm not expecting that, of course.

I mean, my daughter took my car.

I'm glad that justice was served.

When I tried to come out to make the turn,
I seen her

and we crashed.

I really don't think she gets
the concept of what she done.

I don't have a car.

And her mother doesn't either, obviously.

Single mom without a car.

I think she was trying to get out
of paying the money.

I mean, I immediately went into,
you know, mommy mode

because of her asthma issues.

And I think she also was only concerned
about her daughter,

which is another big issue to me, too.

But I was frantic,
I didn't know what to do.

You didn't never once mention,
"Well, I wanted to check

and see if the plaintiff was okay."

I mean, my daughter
could have been way worse.

I'm just happy she's still here with me.

Make sure you watch your kids.

I've been a single parent as well.

I raised three kids

and I've not had to deal
with this situation.

Don't lay your keys around.

I will never understand parents
like the defendant,

who cover for their children
who have done outrageous things.

If I came home and told my father
and my mother that I'd stole their car,

was 14, driving a car,

and fled the scene
of any type of accident,

I would need a breathing treatment
after they were done with me.

-[Judy laughs]
-That is how it should be

because that is how you raise
responsible, accountable children,

to raise them into adults.

I couldn't agree with you more.

[theme music playing]

[announcer]
Want justice?



[theme music playing]