Nationwide — Sabriya Miles, a young African American mother from Evansville, Indiana, experienced a terrifying ordeal when her car was unexpectedly repossessed with her newborn baby still inside. The incident has sparked a community response to support her in her time of need.Miles had briefly left her baby in the running car while dropping off her toddler at daycare. As she turned around, she witnessed someone driving off with her car and her baby.
With the help of another mother, Miles pursued the car down the street, overwhelmed with frustration and fear. She even thought someone had kidnapped her baby.
“I couldn’t talk,” Miles told WLBT. “I was just too frustrated, and I was crying. I carried my baby for nine months and now I lost her.”
The police later confirmed that the man who repossessed the car didn’t realize the baby was inside. Miles said she had no warning about the repossession and thought the situation had been resolved with the agent.
Now left without transportation, Miles is grappling with losing her children’s car seats and her cell phone, still inside the repossessed car.
Tanisha Carothers, a lawyer and daycare owner, expressed her outrage, “To think about the humanity of repossessing the car at a daycare, I would have been livid had a dealer done that in my parking lot to a family.”
Carothers was moved by the mom’s story and spearheaded fundraising efforts to support Miles. She set up a GoFundMe to help her get back on her feet. It has so far raised nearly $5,000.
Reflecting on the ordeal, Miles shared, “I’ve been a mom since I was 15 years old, and this is the first time that anything like this has ever happened to me,” she said. “I won’t let it happen again.”