Oy! What a day I had today!!! I was woken up at 3:35 AM this morning along with perhaps half the neighborhood. Some screeching, then BANG!!! (some more screeching) then BANG!!! BANG!!! BOOM!!! Then the car alarms set off. I jumped up off the sofa in the living room, threw off my robe put on my pants and shoes and ran out to see what had happened. It looked like my car had been hit along with the car in front of mine and the car in front of that one. I ran back inside to get my cellphone and my camera. Came back out to the car and examined the whole thing. My car was severely damaged on the left rear tire, drivers side door and front hood. The front of the car had been crashed into the car parked in front of mine and that car was crashed into the car in front of it.
While I was on the phone explaining to the police dispatcher where, when what where who and all that, some kids came running from around the corner on Bond St. yelling, "He's stuck around the corner, go catch him. He's stuck, can't go anywhere." So I went running around there and at the top of the hill on Bond St. was the car trying to back out of a turn into the curb to get away, was the car that just hit mine. I quickly took a picture of the license plate then went up to the driver and stalled him till the police arrived.
When they did, they told me and Abdellatif, the guy who owns the car that my car got pushed into, to wait back around the corner with our cars. We both walked back to our cars and waited. After 20 minutes the police hadn't come over to us yet so we walked back up around the corner to find the kids car was being towed and the kid was watching from the sidewalk. I was curious as to why he wasn't in handcuffs or sitting in the back of the police car. But he was right there out in the open watching his car going up on the lift. I asked a few of the officers standing around watching this whole thing and they couldn't answer me. It made me angry.
Then I noticed one of the officers that was taking the report start walking down the street and around over to our cars. we followed. When we reached our cars, the officer took Abdellatiff's report first, then mine. I was prepared with my registration and insurance info. The officer said that the kid was "A little slow", "Mentally challenged" Well, it makes you wonder why and how they give drivers licenses to these kind of people.
Anyway, he also had full insurance coverage. That's all that mattered here. His insurance would pay for the work that our cars needed to be repaired if this was possible. Abdellatiff's car looks like all it needs is a rear and front bumper and a hood. My car needs a bit more. It may need rear alignment, a drivers side door, a hood, a bumper, new tires and wheel hubs and possibly rear axle work.
At 7 AM my doorbell rang. I jumped up off the sofa, threw my robe off, put my pants on and ran downstairs to see that it was my landlady who was letting me know what happened to my car. I told her I knew. I explained all that went on this morning. It was then I learned that the fore-most car in this lineup of parked cars was none other than hers. A black PILOT. One of those bigger SUV-type looking cars. She was lucky because when she got in and started it up and pulled away, the car behind hers which was Abdellatiff's, fell off her bumper and his car alarm went off again. Not a scratch on her car. She then pulled it into her driveway and that was that.
At about 7:45 AM another neighbor who was passing by saw my car and decided to ring my bell to let me know. I told him thanks, I already know about it and began the explanation all over again of the 3:35AM events.
At 10:30AM I called my insurance company and filled the claim. They will get the police report, contact the kids insurance company, send an adjuster out to estimate my car damage and let me know the outcome. This should all come within the next three or four days. But the adjuster will call me to come out Monday or Tuesday.
At 11AM i had to leave for a doctors appointment in Brooklyn at 1 PM. I got there on time and didn't wonder at all why my blood pressure was elevated a bit today. When I got back home from the appointment, Abdellatiff was outside taking better pics of his car. He had taken some early in the morning but I told him it would be better later when the sun was up. After all- the cars weren't going anywhere. We also decided at that point that he should start up his car and move it forward to get it off of my car so he can get better pics of his rear bumper and I can get better pics of the front of my car. I picked up out from the front hood and light debris, my mustang emblem. I want that if nothing else can be saved or fixed. Update: July 1, 2011 By now, the car was looked at by both my own insurance company and the driver who hit the car's insurance company. Both companies have declared the car "totaled" meaning it would cost more to have it fixed than the whole car is worth. My Ins. Co. gave me two prices. One was if they take the car and the other was if I keep the car. The difference between the two was only $25.00 so I decided to hold off and let the other company make their decision. I'll find out about it next week. Meanwhile, the car can't sit on the street any longer because it will get ticketed by the parking authority. So, yesterday I was on the phone with companies that pay cash for junk cars and today, one of them came to get the car to take it away.
Say "bye bye" to my '94 Ford Mustang...
A few stills of the final moments with the car: Click Here.
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