Well-Meaning Mom Accidentally Steals Car

It might be the strangest stolen-car caper of the year, not least because the car wasn't technically stolen. It helps when one set of keys works in two separate vehicles. Here's what happened, from Daily Intel and the New York Post:

• Nekisia Davis of Brooklyn asked mom Cheryl Thorpe to fly in from Texas to dog-sit while Davis went on vacation with friends. Mom's other chore was to move their cars around to comply with alternate-street parking.
• One of those cars was an old green Honda. On the appropriate day, mom got into an old green Honda, used the keys she was given, and moved the car to a different block. It was, of course, the wrong old green Honda, but somehow the keys still worked. (A Honda spokesperson says improved technology would make that impossible with more modern models.)

• The snafu became clear when the women returned from vacation, and discovered that the right green old Honda was still parked in its original spot.
• Meanwhile, the owner of the Honda that had been accidentally moved, Emily Hickert, reported it stolen. She even watched surveillance footage from a nearby store of the car being taken. “In less than 40 seconds she gets in the car and goes,” she says. “I thought she was a professional.”
• Before the mystery got resolved, Davis posted flyers around the neighborhood with a photo of the vehicle: "Is this your car?" it asked. "I didn't steal your car but I think my mom may have. It's a long story. I'll explain, but your car is safe and sound."
• Police finally called Hickert to let her know that her vehicle car had been impounded, and she was able to get it back after paying a $193 fine. She has no hard feelings, Davis has offered to pay, and mom hopes to tell the tale on Ellen.

(More strange stuff stories.)