Protest held against Crown Auto

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- What started out as a fight has turned into a peaceful demonstration. Church members gathered outside Crown Auto, held hands and prayed, calling for the city to investigate Crown Auto for fraud.

"You get angry, you feel ripped off. I gave my money and now I'm gonna have to pay again to get my car because they want to rip me off," Rojonna Handy said.

It all started when Robin Handy and her daughter Rojonna went to Crown Auto to pick up their car that had been towed. They say they produced a receipt, a Crown business card, that on the back had hand written paid $159. Handy says the woman at the gate took the receipt, did not give them their car, and threw them off the property.

"I would leave as soon as I had the card and as soon as the police came. She pushed me and punched me and then we started fighting. It was not an assault on her, she assaulted me first, it was self-defense for me," Robin said.

A security camera caught the fight and both mother and daughter were charged with assault, but police investigated further and Handy said they found the business card ripped up in the trash.

"This is what the police department was able to recover from the trash can at Crown Towing Company," Pastor Donald Morris said.

News 8 talked to a Crown Auto employee at the gate, who says the owner does not want to make a comment. He says the police have a video tape of the incident. He let's that stand and speak for itself.

Meanwhile, the mother, the daughter, still don't have their car and they say they're not giving up.

"I have to work tomorrow, I need my car. He said, well if you give me the money, I can give you a receipt and you call downtown tomorrow and they'll send you letters and that's what I did and it was obviously not official," Rojanna said.