Beth and I were in an accident last night--we are BOTH OK, aside from a stiff neck (me) and bruised knees (Beth). Here's the story...
We were hosting a neighborhood gathering last night. Throughout the summer, there is a schedule of Friday nights wherein folks in the neighborhood volunteer to host and provide a few munchies, and folks come and go with drinks and chairs. It doesn't usually get started until after 6 or 6:30pm, so after Beth and I got things in order at the house, we ordered a cheese pizza. We always order for pick up, so we jumped in Ellie (my Element) and headed out to Donato's, about half a mile from the house. On the return trip, we were coming up Medina (the street that you turn onto from Weber to get to our street-Melrose). On Medina, there is no stop at Melrose--Melrose has the stop. As we approached Melrose on Medina, I started to look up Melrose towards the house, worried that perhaps some folks had arrived for the gathering while we were gone. What I saw instead was the hood of a white car barreling towards us. I tried to swerve towards the right, and she tried to swerve towards the left, but impact was made and she pushed us across the intersection and up into the lawn of the house on the far corner. She then proceeded to keep turning left, until her car was free of mine. I thought perhaps she'd just pull up and stop, but instead she gunned it, turned down the alley and disappeared. As she was making the choice to leave, I was yelling (windows were open) "YOU ARE NOT LEAVING!" which then changed, when I realized she wasn't going to listen, to "LICENSE PLATE! LICENSE PLATE!" As I leaned back to the car, Beth was repeating the license plate number over and over, as she was looking for something to write with. She got it, and got it written down on a napkin.
As I stood outside yelling a few choice expletives, many neighbors were running over to check on us. One guy had his phone up his ear; he said he had the police and that it was a white Lumina. Well holy heck, we also know the license plate number. He told the police that she had fled west down the alley. I did hear the police helicopter after that for a bit--the copter is often near our neighborhood :). After a few deep breaths, I went over and checked on Beth, who was now out of the car. She handed the dude on the phone the license plate number, which he relayed to the police. She was fine (I didn't notice the bruised knees until later). She walked to the house to get my cell phone; it was supposed to be a quick trip, so neither of us had our phones. I didn't want to leave should the police come right away Tthey didn't; they actually went after the girl and the Lumina first, and I'm quite OK with that. While Beth was away, I started snapping photos with my phone (the attached photos, plus more). When she got back, I called Patty--who I knew was coming to the neighborhood gathering)--and she came by to get the keys and head over to the house to wait for people to arrive. We loaded everything in Ellie into her car, as I know Ellie was going away, perhaps never to return.
As we waited (and Beth had some pizza which managed to survive although it was upside down for a bit), a black pick up came by and said he saw the car (white Lumina) parked a block over (Really?!?). Apparently he was behind us as the accident happened, and he followed her as she left (I never saw him). He had called the police and told them where the car was. She had run up to an apartment, and then took off on foot. He headed back over, and apparently boxed the car in until the police arrived. His wife later came by as well, as she was driving the neighborhood looking for the girl (she also had picked up their dinner--wings, I believe).
It was amazing to watch people drive by; the look on their faces when they saw my wheel--still attached to the tie rod but not to the car--sitting out in the road. As I took photographs, we found pieces of both cars as well as cuts in the pavement from where my wheel broke and metal dug down. As the car was sitting in the grass, the rear back tire was in the air. I was also amazing how several people who live there hung out with us. They brought ice for Beth's knee, and bottled water. I never got any pizza--by the time I got to it, ants had taken over.
When the first squad car arrived, I asked the officer what he knew. He said they were impounding the white Lumina. He also said it was registered to a male, and that it had been reported stolen. What he didn't know was WHEN it was reported stolen, but based on the timing, I suspect it WAS stolen at the time, and she knew she had to get the heck out of dodge. The last I spoke to the officer, they did not yet have her in custody, but I think they were looking. Strangely, we later heard that a 9 year-old was hit (and run) on Melrose as well, but I have no idea what time that happened. Part of me would not be surprised if it was her, before she plowed into us (she wouldn't have been back on Melrose after she left our scene).
A wrecker came and took Ellie and her wheel to the dealership where I got her. I've called the insurance company. The officer said the report would be on file, but that it surely was going to get complicated with everything else going on. Who knows, I could end up in court for this one. I am only 5 months from paying off Ellie, and I had no plans to trade her in, so I'm going to have to do some research once I know what the insurance company wants to do. All in all, however, it was a few moments of fright, anger, and sadness, but no injuries or serious pain. And in one moment wherein someone made some really bad choices, others were amazingly helpful and kind...
