A mother was left outraged after a car salesman in Texas came and took her daughter with Down syndrome to a dealership to buy a Honda.
Angie Martin, a working mother of seven, was surprised to come home Tuesday night and not see Hope Martin.
She was told that a salesman had picked up her disabled daughter and taken her to All-Star Honda to look at cars.
“My heart is beating faster just thinking about it. I got a text from his dad and he was like, ‘I got a couple texts from someone,'” Angie told KTAB.
Hope, who has a hankering for driving, is said to have called the dealership several times and said she wanted to buy a car.
A mother was left outraged after a car salesman in Texas came and took her daughter with Down syndrome to a dealership to buy a Honda.
Angie Martin, a working mother of seven, was surprised to come home Tuesday night and not see Hope Martin.
Angie has talked to her daughter about driving, but has told her that the decision is not up to her, but rather to the state motor vehicle agencies.
Hope, 27, went out to try and buy a car, but her mother is furious that the salesman failed to recognise that her daughter is vulnerable.
“I was so angry about this and that a strange man would have the audacity to come and take my daughter, who obviously has cognitive issues, out of my home without my consent, let alone do something so drastic,” Angie said.
But she says she holds dealership management, rather than the salesperson, primarily responsible.
“You and I have inhibitions and boundaries, and when we start to go beyond them, we realize it,” he said.
“Hope doesn’t have those things. I provide them for her from the outside… I always try to find the balance between her rights as a human being and her safety.”
All Star Honda Vice President Nicholas Varela said it’s not uncommon for dealership staff to provide rides to potential customers.
“An incident recently occurred that we feel is important to address directly,” he said in a statement.
‘We are currently addressing this matter internally to ensure we maintain the highest standards of inclusion and respect.
‘As a family-owned dealership, we do everything we can to act in the best interest of our customers and we deeply regret any harm this may have caused.
Hope, who has a hankering for driving, is said to have called the dealership several times and said she wanted to buy a car.
Angie was told that a salesman had picked up her disabled daughter and taken her to All-Star Honda to look at cars.
‘We apologize for any concern this may have caused and appreciate the community’s understanding and support as we address this matter.’
Varela said the dealership would have felt they were violating Hope’s civil liberties if they had decided she wasn’t fit to make a decision like that on her own.
He added that they communicated with his father and that no payment would have been made without a parent or legal guardian.
“The legislation is intended to hold us to a higher standard, not give us an excuse for our failures,” he added.
But Angie replied: ‘That’s not why it exists… I’m sure they’re on a learning curve and they’re rethinking and examining things and I think something good will come out of this.
She believes his statements were “self-protective” and did not match what she was told at the time.
Angie has talked to her daughter about driving, but told her that the decision is not up to her, but rather to the state motor vehicle agencies.
Hope, 27, went out to try and buy a car but her mother is furious that the salesman failed to recognise that her daughter is vulnerable.
“(They told me) that their job is to sell cars, Hope wanted to buy a car,” said the mother.
“Their job is not to determine whether someone is capable of buying a car, which raises a lot of alarming questions like what about someone with dementia?”
Angie called Abilene Police in response to the situation and said officers spoke with their special needs experts and determined that “kidnapping is not kidnapping if someone agrees to go voluntarily.”
Hope’s family picked her up from the car dealership a few hours after arriving and spoke to her about the incident.
“What would I change going forward? What do I want to get out of this? I want our community to do the right thing to help people with additional needs,” Angie said.
“They deserve to move around our community with some freedom, some security and a lot of support.”
According to Varela, All-Star Honda staff will now be trained on the procedure for similar situations.
