The Ballad of the Hit and Run

The excitement just never stops in our neighborhood.  Two nights ago, I was awoken around 2:30am by a bump noise outside in the street followed by muffled voices.  As I had to get up for work in a little over two hours I decided to just ignore it and go back to sleep.  At 4am, I was disrupted yet again, this time by the door bell ringing and aggressive banging on the door.  I leaned over to my window, thinking 'oh no, should've looked outside the first time!'

Ever since Taylor got his new car we've been parking the old van out on the street since there's no room in the back lineup.  I looked outside and saw that the van had been hit by another car and pushed ten feet forward up onto the sidewalk.  There was debris scattered around and a pretty obvious trail of antifreeze where the other car had backed up and continued on down the street.  I watched Mom walk outside with the cop, who was amazed no one heard it and went outside to check it out.

I tried to go back to sleep for that half hour before I had to get up but I don't think I really did.  Luckily I only had a five hour shift that morning.  When I got home, I was filled in on the whole story.  Apparently, after talking to Mom, the cop followed the antifreeze to find that the other car only made it down the block!  She found it, abandoned, and was going to check on a call about a severely drunk person stumbling around the area, thinking it might be the driver.  It wasn't.  Apparently, it was a nineteen year old kid who was going to report his car stolen, rather than confess to what really happened.

When the cops came to collect his report, he broke down and told them the truth.  Well, the semi-truth.  He said there weren't any drugs or alcohol involved, and his friends were the ones who told him to claim his car had been stolen after abandoning it.  Pretty crazy.  But look at the damage!  How does a non-drunk person driving a car do this?!  So long, van!

(photos by t.hunt, and e.hunt)