Mar 14, 2024
A woman from Pittsburgh was left in jail for six days over a felony charge she didn’t commit.
But Danielle Brissett, a mom of two, isn’t going down without a fight. She’s now suing the car rental service that filed the criminal complaint against her after her arrest in August 2023.
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The felony charge, which was first filed back in December 2016, claimed Brissett embezzled a rental vehicle from an Enterprise Rent-a-Car location in Las Vegas.
Brissett, who had used the vehicle seven years ago to move her family from Nevada to Pittsburgh, had no idea there was an arrest warrant out in her name — especially since she’d returned the car without issue all those years ago.
“It was horrible, it was degrading, it was depressing,” Brissett said in an interview with “8 News Now — Las Vegas.” “I felt intimidated. I was surrounded by a number of police officers.”
She told the news outlet she would “not rent a car again” after the interaction with authorities.
Here’s how the ongoing rent-a-car saga played out — and what you can do to prevent something similar from happening to you.
What happened
According to the lawsuit, Brissett had rented a Kia Sedona on Oct. 3, 2016, in order to move her family from Las Vegas to Pittsburgh. A few days later, on Oct. 9, she’d called the car rental service to ask for an extension until Nov. 1.
Brissett said she spoke to an Enterprise Rent-a-Car employee who instructed her to return it on the new agreed-upon date and to leave the keys under the front seat. Brissett returned the car a day early, on Oct. 31.
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However, unbeknownst to Brissett, a criminal complaint was filed in Nevada on Dec. 9, 2016, in which she faced a felony charge for embezzling a rental vehicle. The accusation, strangely, stated Brissett’s actions took place on Aug. 5, 2016 — two months before she’d even rented the Kia Sedona.
She later received an email on Feb. 23, 2017, confirming that she had returned the vehicle on time. Brissett put the entire debacle out of her mind until, seven years later, when she was pulled over for a minor traffic infraction and discovered there was a warrant out for her arrest.
Brissett was arrested in front of her children, one of whom was only one year old, and languished in jail for six days before being released on bail.
According to her attorney, Christian Morris, “after we filed this lawsuit, they recently — just three days ago [in February 2024] — sent a letter to Danielle saying, ‘Hey, you damaged this vehicle. Report to your insurance or send us your credit card.’ It is compounding issues upon issues.”
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Enterprise Rent-a-Car has declined to comment due to pending litigation.
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Steps for returning a car rental
Although Brissett’s situation is certainly unique in that she did everything right in returning her vehicle, there are preventative measures that can be taken to avoid a similar situation.
The “8 News Now” team recommended dropping rental cars off directly with an agent — as opposed to placing the keys under a seat and leaving the vehicle unattended in a parking lot, as Brissett was instructed to do by the Enterprise employee. This would eliminate any confusion and offer customers the opportunity to request a paper receipt.
In instances where the car rental service is closed, “8 News Now” suggested locking the car rental and leaving the keys in a specified dropbox.
Once you’ve picked up your rental vehicle, take plenty of pictures and videos to document the condition in which you’ve received the car. Follow those same steps before returning it as well just in case you’re ever charged for damages down the road.
Save all emails and general correspondence pertaining to the car rental so there’s a paper and digital trail of any and all interactions should any issues arise.
Finally, eliminate the hassle of additional fees by ensuring that your rental vehicle is clean and fuelled up before returning it, as many companies have hefty cleaning service charges.
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Laura Grande is a freelance contributor with nearly 15 years of industry experience. Throughout her career she's written about and edited a range of topics, from personal finance and politics to health and pop culture. Her work has appeared on HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, Today's Parent, Zoomer Magazine and SLICE, among others.
