This GoFundMe is for Daye and her friend Leah, who were simply trying to do the right thing.
While in Minneapolis, they believed they were helping someone in need and allowed a man Jake Lang, to get into their car. Afterwards a group of protesters surrounded Leah’s car and attempted to pull the man out, causing damage to the vehicle in the process.
Daye Gottsche, 22, and Aleigha Henderson, 25, were driving by the hotel, heading to a bar when a bloodied man approached their car at a red light. They had no idea the man was Lang.
“All of a sudden there’s a bloody man running up to our car and begging for help. We let him in,” Gottsche told the Star Tribune. “We’re surrounded by a crowd of people that is clearly angry because they are like beating on the car door, trying to bust open the windows. It was insane.”
Protesters opened the back door and tried pulling Lang out of the car and kicking him as he pleaded with Henderson to drive. She peeled off once the light turned green.
“Who did they just pick up?” the two friends thought.
“I looked directly back at him, and I was like, ‘What ... did you do?’ ” Gottsche said.
Gottsche said they got weird vibes, so they pulled over after a few blocks and told him to get out. A video of them shows Henderson telling Lang that they were “trying to do a good deed” until they “find out you’re the devil,” she said with a laugh.
Gottsche, a Black trans woman, told Lang it was “so unexpected” when they were just trying to go have a drink. Lang gave them his number, promising to pay for the damage to Henderson’s car, including a broken headlight. Gottsche texted Lang the next day, reminding him to repay her friend along with a message: She said that while she doesn’t support his ideals, she’s happy that he will be OK, and she hopes the experience has an impact on him. As of Monday they have not heard from Lang.
Thankfully, Daye and Leah are safe—but Leah is now left dealing with some unexpected car repair costs through no fault of her own.
Funds raised will go directly toward repairing the damage to her car and helping them recover from an experience that quickly turned from an act of kindness into a frightening situation.
Thank you for any support you can offer.
