It seems that karma has caught up with one Oklahoma City panhandler.
A Facebook video showing a man, Daniel Ayala, confronting an elderly woman who he'd just given money to has gone viral over the past weekend. While such an act would be reprehensible in any normal situation, the supposedly-poor grandmother was driving a brand new 2013 Fiat--hardly the type of vehicle one would expect to see a panhandler driving.
Brandi Newman, who was preparing to take a picture of the woman as evidence, noticed that Ayala had made his way to the car and switched to video. The altercation can be seen below, but be warned: The language in this video is NSFW.
In the video, Ayala approaches the car and begins to berate the older woman, then threatened to bash in the car's windshield if she returned. In an interview with the local news station, Ayala claims that nothing he said crossed the line. "I gave that lady over $15 in five days. $15 could make me enough to come to work for gas. For her to just take my money like that." Newman, who was scammed by the same woman, also believed that Ayala was justified in his response, though she didn't believe he would actually go through with his threats.
"Of course, it's not right to bash somebody's windshield in. I didn't think he was going to do that for a minute. He's just trying to prove a point that you don't come here again, don't do this again, quit scamming people."
Local residents report that Mary South, 78, is well-known for panhandling in the area, though it's more than likely that none of the people who make donations knew she drove a brand new car. Initially, South's family contacted Newman on Facebook, saying that she wasn't doing anything illegal, as the grandmother possesses a panhandling license. South's family also told Newman that they were 'appalled' by the video.
Then, in a follow-up report by the local news station, South claimed that she hadn't spoken with her family since the incident went viral, and that the video has "ruined her family."
South also claimed that, despite paying for the car in full, panhandling is necessary to make ends meet. Since the video was posted on Newman's Facebook page, the video has accrued over three million hits and continues to pull in more views. As of Monday morning, Newman has made no indication that she will remove the video from Facebook.
Photo: Christopher Aitken (cropped)
