I'm Confused By This Article

https://www.syracuse.com/news/2022/01/alice-sebold-case-how-race-and-incompetence-doomed-anthony-broadwater-to-prison.html

It's a very interesting article, but one, perhaps minor, point really confuses me, and it's towards the end of the article (it's in reference to the Black judge who presided over Anthony Broadwater's rape conviction):

'Cuffy came to SU in 1979 from a poor family in Brooklyn. He graduated in 1984, the same year as Sebold. After going back to Brooklyn for law school, Cuffy returned to live in Syracuse. In 1990, he landed a job as an assistant district attorney.

Cuffy acquired a personal perspective on race and Syracuse police work. In the early 1990s, he lived on East Fayette Street and drove a Mercedes Benz, a gift from his father. That sometimes got him pulled over for no reason. “I was stopped by the police several times,” he said.'

'Cuffy came from a poor family' but he 'drove a Mercedes Benz, a gift from his father.' Eh?!? 🤷‍♂️

It's details like this that cause me to reconsider everything else I've just read. Since when does coming from a poor family measure up with having a daddy who can buy you a Mercedes Benz?