Saved by Accident

[Music] when Joel Beth was 17 years old he was learning in yeshiva in Israel for the summer he came back to LA where he got a summer job one day a friend of his yeseo Saltzburg who was his roommate back in Israel in yeshiva called him and said Joel I always wanted to come visit la would it be okay if I come for a few days I said you but of course compel our families to come to save my house and inside he's gonna come with his friend morning on this trip I actually rented a car and the car that I rented was on my name and only I was able to drive one night Joel couldn't fall asleep he was bored and he notices that you feel left the car keys on the table Morty and I decided that we were gonna take the car without permission you drove it was about four blocks away he's speeding nobody's on the road it's two o'clock in the morning this car backs up and we smash right into it and as we smash right into it I remember thinking oh my god I say we gotta get out of here this car is not under our name we have no insurance we're gonna get into so much trouble I told mortuus let's just jump out of here and run we run into us who were both shaking they walk back into the apartment but it look like a ghost he look on their faces and I said what happened well okay we borrowed your car without permission and we got into an accident being an 18 year old kid you know I kind of panicked I didn't know what to do she also have an idea why don't we go back to the crime scene to the accident and tell them that you drove the car but because you thought that you're being carjacked you were afraid and you ran away now that you feel safe the cops are there if you're coming back and you want to take care of it you want to pay for the damage so he goes oh that's such a great idea I'm gonna do that so I guide you feel towards the accidents and I miyamura are watching and he tells the cop the story it was an older cop that was training a rookie cop and he looked at me he said what happened and I said well I was driving I hit her I got scared I heard in LA you know carjackings I just I'm not from here I just ran but I came right back so he says so you hit her and you're left I said no but I came right back because you hit him on your left that's a hit and run turn around any coffee and I look at morning about oh my god what do we not do this guy's getting arrested it's just in so much trouble right now and it's all our fault then it took me downtown put me in a holding cell with a bunch of people and it was just the worst nightmare of a story you can imagine for something that I didn't do the next day you feel got out on bail who looks at me he goes you guys are disgusting like he was so mad at me and he says Joe I will never forgive you for what you did I don't ever want to see you again I did not speak to him twenty-something years I do know that he was having a really hard time with the law he spent so much time coming back to California going to court hiring lawyers trying to clear his record but all to no avail 25 years later you feel as the moved on he now lives the Farakka way he's got a family of his own he hasn't thought about the story in years one day he meets a guy and the course of the conversation he discovers that this guy's name is best he goes are you related to best in Los Angeles Joel best the guy says Joe Joe is my brother he says he's your brother I need to talk to him right now Joel's brother calls up Joel he says you feel wants to talk to you he feels says to me he goes I need to tell you a story when is the next time you're gonna be in New York I said to him just talk to me now he goes no I need to tell this to you person I come to York the next week and I call him up and I said I'm in New York now and he comes to my brother's house he says Joel I'm gonna tell you a story you're not gonna believe ten years after that incident with the car I graduated from college I studied finance and I was looking for a job I had been given an interview I remember at the time that it was a pretty much guaranteed job after the interview they told me to go to human resources and just fill out the employee paperwork got the paper I filled out all the questions the last question on the paper was were you ever arrested and I thought to myself yes I was but it wasn't my fault I checked off yes I never ever heard back from them they obviously didn't want to are somebody who had a record and I never got the job Joel at this point feels terrible and begins apologizing again to your Sheila says you feel I'm so sorry if he'll grabs Joel's arms he says Joel listen it turns out that the criminal record that you gave me saves my life because a short while later 9/11 happened thousands of people died and I gotten the job in the World Trade Center I would have been there on that fateful day and I wouldn't be here talk with you today I wasn't sitting in that jail I could have been working in the World Trade Center who knows what would happen when I heard the story I wasn't like oh god I'm so happy that I stole the car it was that even during the stupid times when I'm making stupid decisions and the regrets that I had for it even then God has a plan and even then everything is done for a reason but there was the credible part of this whole story came when we actually filmed you feel and we asked him if he has any court documents from when he was fighting the battle he took out the papers and even you feel himself then realized this until now the expungement letters a letter that wipes his record clean we couldn't believe our eyes the day the judge sent him the letter was marked nine eleven it was right after the interview obviously if I would have had the interview after this it wouldn't have been on my record and I would have been working there so yeah all the crazy part of the story nothing is really in our control at the end of the day you know we do the best we can as just people and God in His master plan take care of the rest so I definitely learned that lesson from that day [Music]