Woman Gifted New Car and Cash by Same Officers Who Evicted Her
An eviction is a nasty process for everyone involved. For landlords, they have to deal with lost income and sometimes belligerent tenants who take their frustrations out on the property itself.
But not all tenants who have to leave a property against their will have bad intentions. In fact, many simply find themselves stuck in temporarily bad financial situations.
The loss of a job or a family member’s illness can strip much-needed funds out of a budget. And when you run into both, well, you can find yourself at the end of your rope.
According to WPBF, that was exactly what happened to Darcie Coburn of West Palm Beach, Florida. Coburn is a woman who was just trying to make ends meets.
Her Twitter profile describes her as a “God Fearing, Food Loving, Movie Quoting, Craft Creating, Home Making, Stain Removing, Sarcastically Challenged, Dedicated … Italian American Mom of 3.”
But one of those three children struggles with a chronic illness.
Then, when Coburn found herself unemployed, she suddenly couldn’t make the rent.
She also didn’t have a car.
“We ran into some financial issues, and I lost my job,” she told WPBF. “I just kept falling behind, and it just came down to the fact that I was begging my landlord. He didn’t really want to evict me, but I couldn’t just come up with what I needed to stay.”
Coburn got an eviction notice on Oct. 19, but she ended up staying in her home until a deputy came knocking on the door.
“I kept thinking I was going to figure it out, I was going to figure it out,” she said.
But she couldn’t. Detective Eric Smith from the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office came to see the eviction through in December.
“They can only grab a handful of items within a 15 (or) 20-minute time frame,” Smith explained. “The items that she brought out were the ashes of her mother, her father, and her brother.”
‘Beyond a miracle’: Woman given car, cash by deputies who evicted her https://t.co/W5R9fFxEZp pic.twitter.com/Vw4In4xFLb
— wdsu (@wdsu) December 23, 2018
Officer Smith had handed Coburn a business card as she left, a card that she promptly threw away, but Smith texted her shortly afterward, checking in to see how she and her kids were doing.
Smith then rallied a group of other law-enforcement personnel to see how they could help Coburn.
“I said, ‘Hey, we’re going to do something for this family’ in a little meeting that we had,” Smith said. “In our unit, there’s maybe eight or nine of us in there. I was expecting $5 or $10, and these guys were giving $100 bills. It was awesome.”
Their generosity turned into a car and $4,000, which the officers presented to the astonished mother on Dec. 21.
“When we pulled up, I never expected all of this,” Coburn said.
“My kids are my world, so whenever they see me struggle, I want them to see me keep going, because I want them to feel like they can do that, too.”
“This is beyond a miracle.”
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