They say “never judge a book by its cover.” Is that a suggestion or a rule? You decide.
A San Diego resident, Melissa Smith, was shocked when she saw a pregnant woman begging for money with her young son. The fact that she was pregnant wasn’t the shocking part. It was the fact that Smith witnessed her laughing while driving off in a Mercedes- Benz driven by a man.
Smith took photos of the woman and contacted her local news station. She says that she’s seen the woman and, who she presumes to be her son, at a shopping center every weekend for the past couple of months. Smith said that sometimes their husband or boyfriend would even join her.
“They were leaving and I noticed they went into a Mercedes-Benz,” Smith said. “And I thought, ‘WOW! A Mercedes-Benz?!'”
Smith ended up pulling alongside the car and noticed that the woman was counting the money while laughing with her boyfriend or husband. Smith also says that the little boy that was with them was in the backseat but wasn’t in a car seat or wearing a seatbelt.
Smith then saw the couple pull into another shopping center nearby. The woman exited the car and began to panhandle one again, but this time, she noticed Smith taking her picture. Smith says the woman threatened her with a boulder. The police were called and ended up tracking the license plate of the Mercedes. The local news station was unable to reach them for comment because they had apparently moved.
Although it’s unclear who the woman was, or what her intentions were, the photos sparked outrage and left the internet divided.
Some people who viewed the video thought that it was rude that Smith would jump to conclusions without knowing anything about the woman or her life. They also claim that it’s “just a Mercedes” and they can be purchased inexpensively online.
Other viewers claimed that there was no excuse for the woman’s panhandling and she was scamming people out of their hard-earned money. They believe that the Mercedes holds a lot of value and if their family was truly starving or needing money for shelter, they could sell the car. Or, they could use the car to do delivery service.
What do you think? Was Smith’s outrage warranted and she did the right thing by exposing this woman? Or did she take it too far by jumping to conclusions? The news footage is below.
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