Car Accident

So, we were able to have the pleasure of seeing true irresponsibility this weekend.

We were in an auto accident on Saturday. We were sitting at a dead stop for a reasonable amount of time on the Edison exit off of 240, when a man (yikes, I almost said gentleman) rammed into the back of Rich's truck at roughly 35 MPH- without braking. Under normal circumstances we would have been understanding, exchanged information, had the police come out to document the situation, and then we would have been done. Unfortunately, these were not normal circumstances.

Within 30 seconds of the hit Rich told me to call 911, then he proceeded to get out of the vehicle to talk with the individual who was slowly getting out of his late 70s Cadillac. Now, I couldn't make up a funnier story in my mind than that of the description of the man who eventually exited the Cadillac. He was an older guy, approximately 60-65 ish, with Einstein type hair, a fake right leg, boxers, a warm plaid-looking coat, and a drunken sway to him. Rich specified that he instantly had a pretty good idea that this man had been drinking (really? How could you tell? HEHE).

To begin with, he was fairly nice and cordial... but you could definitely tell he was not 100% that day. He began to exchange information, explaining that he had insurance and would take care of us. But not shortly after, he began to tell Rich that he would pay RICH'S deductible. Uh, no!

Long story short, the frustration level with the obviously impaired man rose as he was unable to reason and/or follow during normal conversation. Finally Rich mentioned that he would prefer the man to just sit down and wait for the police to arrive to handle details.

Once the man caught wind of the word "police", he looked like a deer in the headlights and backed away stating, "now there is no reason to get the police involved in this." We proceeded to inform him EXACTLY why the police needed to be involved in this, and as anticipated, we were still in disagreement.

Rich asked him what his great fear was, and even asked if he had been drinking. At that point in time the man did admit to "having a few," which I believe irked us both (of course I can only speak for myself here).

He then moved his car up around the corner, and came back on foot. He still tried to plea and bargain with us to not get the police involved. Soon, we could not delay him any longer and he left the scene, regardless of Rich's efforts to advise him to stay.

Shortly after he drunkenly swayed off, the State Trooper arrived. Upon hearing that he had JUST left, he trooper asked us to follow him around the corner so he could look for him. Eventually he had us sit in a parking lot as he continued to search for our one-legged friend to no avail. He then asked our side of the story, took pictures, wrote down our contact information plus the information the other man had given us prior to getting spooked by the mention of the police, and then sent us home so he could continue his search.

We then proceed with our night as planned, just with an hour or two delay and an odd story to tell. Once we were in route to return to my home to watch an evening movie, Rich decided it would be a good idea to check some local low income apartments for the car as the man had stated he lived just up the road. Low and behold, there was the broken up old caddy with the smashed front end and the oil spill beneath it sitting in a complex parking lot right up against the road.

Rich called the state patrol to inform them that we had indeed found the vehicle, in case they had not yet located it. Luckily, they HAD located both the vehicle and it's driver. He had been arrested and was in jail for a DUI and Hit & Run.

Fast forward to Monday. It turns out that he didn't have insurance much to our dismay... even though that is actually what we had initially anticipated. Also, the officer was quite amazed that our vehicle only sustained as much damage as it did, and that the other man had driven off and actually made it home. Internally, his poor old caddy was pretty much toast.

So, although it made for an adventuresome weekend, it sure made me wonder a little at the moral of some people. Here you have a man who not only drives drunk, he then hits someone, lies about having insurance, then runs anyway. And then calls Rich a punk? My my, ironic isn't it?

Alas, we are both safe and continuing life as normal. Just funny how the oddest things can happen when you least expect them.