Distressed family has car stolen from Lodi hospital
When Dallas Steadman of Stockton and his grandmother Joan Reid came out of Adventist Health Lodi Memorial Hospital last Thursday after she had an X-ray and sonogram images taken of her leg, he saw that his white 2001 Honda CR-V was not where he parked it and initially thought it was being towed.
“When I spotted the car pulling away, I ran after it and all I could think about was ‘that's my car and someone is stealing it.’ All I felt afterwards was anger, more confusion and sadness,” Steadman said in an email.
Sgt. Carlos Fuentes of the Lodi Police Department confirmed that Steadman reported his car as stolen, but said the vehicle has not yet been found.
“The vehicle was reported stolen on July 12, but we haven’t recovered it through our agency,” Fuentes said.
Steadman lives in Stockton with his grandmother, a stroke victim who recently had several toes amputated, his mother Renee Ingram, who suffers from the virus MRSA, and his younger brother, Joshua Ebert, who has cerebral palsy, he said. Steadman is solely responsible for caring for all of them.
“For my mother and grandmother, I cook for them, help clean the house, help bathe them and do the laundry. For my little brother, I shuttle him to San Joaquin Delta College for his classes,” Steadman said. “Without a car now, it’s harder to make it to appointments or get living essentials such as food or household items. For my little brother, it's going to be hard on him to make it to school, which can result in him failing his classes.”
Although his car has not yet been found, Steadman set up a GoFundMe page hoping to raise money to repair his mother’s van so that he can use it to run errands for his family and take them where they need to go.
“If we can't get it fixed, maybe someone can direct us to a car lot that sells reliable cars for a decent price,” Steadman said.
Steadman’s GoFundMe page can be found at www.gofundme.com/5u9e4d4.