My heartwarming Christmas story

[BLINGMW]

So Jess and I are out at Valley View Mall in Roanoke on Monday, driving from the mall area to the movie complex in Jess' Accord. Jess makes it clear that I was driving, she claims no responsibility. :lol:

Traffic around the mall loop is heavy, I pull out onto this 25MPH, 2 lanes each way road behind this mid-nineties Camaro who is probably going 20 at the time, but seems to be braking a bit. I come up behind her, back off, she gets off the brakes, and then I see her glance back and watch her wide/evil eyes in her mirror as she jams on the brakes. She comes to a complete stop (nothing in front of her) and I don't quite make it. The Accord lightly taps her bumper.

D'oh! :oops: I'm pissed, she intentionally "caused" this, but hey, I obviously was a little too close, it's my fault. :? She frantically unbelts and jumps out of the car, in raving lunatic, white-trash, junkie mode. Screaming obscenities, she runs to my window and pounds her fists on it, tries the handle, screams, pounds, I'm suddenly thankful that the remote keyless entry thing I installed a while back annoyingly locks the doors when you start the car. She runs between the cars, quickly surveys the (complete lack of) damage, continues screaming, starts pounding on our hood! Jess, who has a little more rage in her than me, opens her door just enough to yell briefly at the woman and is met with something like "COME ON BITCH BRING IT ON!!!!!!! BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!!"

This has to stop. Hmm... I'm already in first gear.... :twisted:

nononono.... I grab Jess' arm, "get back in the car"

I check my mirrors and back up about 2 carlengths, wait for 2 cars to finish passing us on the right (I almost get a little anxious and start off with one right beside me), and zoom right past that raving lunatic.

She's scrambling to get back in her car when she figures out what I'm up to. But we get covered by traffic and I turn right into the first parking lot I can (waiting to turn left into the theater lot would take way too long), go deep into the lot and park. I see no signs of her. We're both quite shaken and hot mad (it's hard using a clutch pedal when your legs are quivering), but I laugh after I get out and see that we didn't even manage to crack the license plate bracket, and her fists of fury didn't put any dents in the hood.

Holy crap what was that all about?! We lookout for her for a sec, then walk accross the street to the theater. I'm confident that she didn't catch our plates as GA doesn't require a front, she was too busy screaming, and the Accord plus my mad drag racing skills does like 0-60 in 2.4 sec, but I'm still a little worried that she's crazy enough to search for our car and burn it down. But, we get tix and sit down. To ease our minds, I take a break about 30 min into the movie, walk back out there and check on the car. All's well.

Anyway, I feel pretty good about leaving the scene of THAT accident. Bitch was intent on turning that no-damage accident that she really caused into some property damage and maybe assault. I HOPE I could take her despite crack power on her side, but yeah, if I got out of the car, someone was going to get hurt, she was making that clear. And I REALLY didn't want Jess out there in it too! And with that level of instanity, I also didn't want to wait around for the cops to sort it out after she had her way with our car and decided that she had whiplash or something.

Sad that we've had a year and a half in Atlanta with nothing like that happening, and we have to go to quiet 'ol Roanoke to find it. Anyway, if you see a crazy, cracked out 30 something bitch in a black Camaro, knock out her teeth, will ya? Happy New Year!! :wink:

[JohnC]

Whew... Glad you guys are alright - I probably would've done exactly the same thing. It is not worth getting hurt (or hurting someone else) over a minor fender-bender.

That being said, technically it was a hit and run. According to the VA Criminal Code, it's a class 4 misdemeanor, with a penalty of $250 each to the driver and passenger for not reporting the collision (in situations where the total damage is under $250). You would receive the same charge if you fed migratory waterfowl in a locality that did not permit it :lol: Very naughty...

[Evan]

hock:

[BLINGMW]

According to the VA Criminal Code, it's a class 4 misdemeanor

man, that DOES sound kinda bad, until you mentioned that it's as bad as feeding ducks. :lol:

[Evan]

That being said, technically it was a hit and run. According to the VA Criminal Code, it's a class 4 misdemeanor,

But does that apply on private property such as a parking lot?
The officer who came to the scene on a parking lot incident I was in told us that since it was on private property the only thing that applied on private property was personal injury. (not that I am quoting him as a know-all)

[BLINGMW]

thanks for trying to bail me out, but no, the road was public.

[Evan]

good, I think you deserve to be in jail

[Mike]

good, I think you deserve to be in jail

as if it were in question?

[BLINGMW]

oh and just to be clear, this was NOT an MM sponsored event. :wink:


but, I would like to know what y'all would have done. Even if your recommendation includes turning myself in. :!:

[Maengelito]

good, I think you deserve to be in jail

now that is hi-larious! if you still had your cane, you could've shown her what its like to pick teeth up off the pavement. or in true channing/fat tony style, you dont get mad, you get stabby.

[ScottyB]

holy crap, glad you're ok man. i'll keep my eyes open! lots of white trash in southwest 'noke.

i can't stand it when brake check like that. it would have been awesome if you were in some old as hell 4x4 with some big mud tires and just crushed her ass. MM Monster Jam, sunday sunday sunday!

[KPWSerpiente]

I'm not hating on what you did, but you asked what we would have done...I'm going to go one step farther and tell you what should have been done.

You should have called the police shortly after making sure yourself, your passenger and the other driver were ok.

If the woman was as crazy/angry as indicated you should have remained in the car and waited for the police to arrive and fill out a report. Get her plate #.

If she was more sensible, exchanging insurance information and copying down her license plate should be done while waiting for the police.

If the woman commits verbal or physical assault you have a passenger (read: witness) and the good makings for a lawsuit.

Unless you are in a life threatening situation (she pulls a gun on you) leaving the scene of the accident is not something you do. You were probably going to be found responsible for the accident, but you have insurance (right?) and absolutely no excuse for not facing up to your responsibilities.

With that said, I'm glad everyone is ok.

Also...now that your choice has been made, turning yourself in would be dumb. There is a good chance you'll never have to hear about this again...keep it that way (posting this up on the interweb was a mistake in my opinion).

I hope all MMers stay be safe...especially with new years coming up.

-T

[Chris]

way to run! if some psycho did that, I'd def. get my ass out of there.

[Mike]

for the first time in the history of ever, i agree with travis

[Ginger]

The Man would almost surely agree with Travis.

.... but you know what? I probably would have done the same thing. Yeah, you fled the scene of an accident. An accident in which nobody was clearly hurt and there was no damage. I think the burden of responsibilty left you the moment she started throwing fists at, well, everything. So she wasn't waving a gun, that doesn't mean that you can't be frightened by her actions. Still, according to The Man, Travis is right.

At this point it would probably be silly to turn yourself in. Does anybody know what the statute of limitations is on something like this? Further, even if she got your plates, unless you left some scuffs on her vehicle, there's nothing linking you to the accident unless she managed to remember the plates of several other passing vehicles.

If anything developes with your friendly local law enforcement agency it would do you well to get a lawyer (and things would probably turn out rather favorably).

Glad you're O.K :thumbup:

[Feersty]

Damn Chan, it might have been better to stay.

[Jess]

I'm going to go one step farther and tell you what should have been done.

If she was more sensible, exchanging insurance information and copying down her license plate should be done while waiting for the police.

If the woman commits verbal or physical assault you have a passenger (read: witness) and the good makings for a lawsuit.

Unless you are in a life threatening situation (she pulls a gun on you) leaving the scene of the accident is not something you do. You were probably going to be found responsible for the accident, but you have insurance (right?) and absolutely no excuse for not facing up to your responsibilities.

Your above statements go without saying, and in any normal situation, we would have done just that. It's not something I'm proud of, but then again, I wasn't behind the wheel making decisions, either. I would be the first to say we were at fault, and I was more than glad to give the woman my insurance information and get on with my day.
:roll:

That being said, I've NEVER encountered a bitch this crazy. Hell, I've never even been in an accident before.

I believe Chan's question was what you guys would have done in THAT situation (not any other normal (i.e., civil) accident situation), which I agree, calling the police would have been best. Honestly, Chan's minor infraction for following too closely would have paled in comparison to her property damage, assault, and attempted battery (and anything else my legal-eagle mind could come up with). This in no way excuses what we did, but its good to talk about such things so that you can discuss what you WOULD do and have that in mind when it does happen.

[Maengelito]

I've NEVER encountered a bitch this crazy.

you never met any of my ex-girlfriends

[bluhayz]

Well, I have no idea what I would have done in this situation. Your actions don't seem too unreasonable but if you wanted to be like most americans, and since you did have a witness, maybe you should've gotten out of the car, let her hit you and sue for personal damages... the list is unlimited when you bring in pain and suffering for assault.

Kinda makes you wonder though, the way you tell the story, it sounds like she was one of those types that we saw a few years ago. They would break, get rear-ended have a doctor on the inside say that whiplash has made their life a living hell (our poor poor fragile bodies) and our (poor poor fragile colleagues) end up giving them enough money so they can spend the rest of their lives not working.

So, I can't say what I would do, but I concur with travis and I believe this post should be removed basically so you don't get in trouble if someone untrustworthy (or trustworthy to the wrong people) sees it. Just my thoughts.

[bassmangrammy]

that's crazy...I would have called the police the second she started "going nuts." The police are for our protection and generally aren't complete morons.

But I probably would have gotten away from her, atleast backed up out of harms way, for safety of lady and car.