Well, almost completely–this ordeal started when Bob and I, in separate cars, left a downtown restaurant last night. I got on the interstate at Third and he got on at Danny Thomas. A big SUV in front of him wouldn’t merge, so Bob threw up his hands. The guy pulled over, Bob went around, then the SUV came up behind him and deliberately rammed him! Not joking.
Bob called the cops then called me. Since he’d gotten the tag number, I decided to pull over and see if the SUV came by. The plan was that I would call 911, and they would send a car out, of course. Well.
So the SUV passes me and I’m out of the emergency lane like a flash, following and trying to get close enough to verify that the tag is correct. I’m not even going to tell you how fast I was driving at that point, because it was just foolish. Anyway, I spot the tag and I call 911. I’m told to exit the interstate, to quit chasing. I tell her I’m not chasing (which I wasn’t), just keeping him in sight so that the police can come get him. But the police can’t chase him, she tells me, and there’s nothing that can be done. Aagh!
I’m making this very long story short, but anyway, I end up back downtown and I tell the 911 dispatcher EXACTLY where he is. And guess what? There’s a police car right there! So all’s well. Oh yeah.
You know how this ends, of course. No one gets the guy. As far as I can tell, no one tried. And THEN–about 10 minutes after I think the police are going to get him, the 911 operator calls me back and asks me if I still know where he is!
Insult to injury: Today we discover, through personal channels, that the car was reported stolen yesterday. So Bob calls the police, to tell them that we know who the car belongs to, that we know it’s stolen, and that although we weren’t sure of the last digit on the plate yesterday, now we know. But too bad he doesn’t remember the name of the officer who responded, he was told: Since he doesn’t know, he’ll have to wait a week and get the report, which he can amend then if he needs to.
And oh yeah, this is his second hit and run in two months. My daughter has had two in the last year (one even involved someone who works with me–the woman hit both of them before taking off), and I went through weeks of physical therapy and three months in a rental car when someone hit me and took off a couple of years ago.
Other people have been telling me about their hit and run experiences today. This has GOT to stop. Do you have one to share?
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Responses to “Completely off subject”
July 11th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Good god. What a frustrating experience. Somebody has got to get control of this city before it becomes completely unlivable.
July 11th, 2007 at 9:59 am
Also…can I use this as an open thread to ask a question?
Has anybody tried the caramel cakes at Easy Way? I bought a half Saturday for $7.50. It has a little different texture from the ones at Holiday Hams that come from Sugarees in New Albany.
But it’s really close and really good and it’s half the PRICE!
What I’m wondering about is other sources for them. Easy Way didn’t have a whole one when I visited.
The package says “B&B Inc. Memphis, TN.” A google search turned up nothing but B&B ROOMS.
July 11th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
No, Todd, she should not have told the dispatcher that unless she knew they were armed. That is considered false reporting - much like that woman recently who said her car had been carjacked with her baby inside. Her car was gone - but it was not carjacked nor was her baby inside. She just thought by telling the cops that her baby was taken with her car they would find her car faster. That is a big no-no. And she was arrested.
And in reality chasing that car was also a big no-no and as Jennifer said “foolish”. What if they did have a gun - and decided to confront whoever was chasing them? They stole a car so they aren’t exactly model citizens. You did something potentially very dangerouos all over a minor fender bender. I understand your anger but not at the expense of getting killed - and what if you had been involved in an accident while admittedly driving way too fast?
And as to the police car being right there - did you flag them down or let them know you needed them? My bet is that police car was not on the same radio frequency as the downtown cars would be and so had no idea you were following that car into the downtwon area. The dispatcher would have had to first know that you spotted a squad car and second go through each radio channel to find out who was in that area. Just because a car is in the downtown area does not mean it is assigned there - the jail is downtown so all MPD cars pass through the downtown area while transporting prisoners to jail and unless they switch their radio over to the downtown frequency for some reason then they would not know what was going on.
July 11th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Sarge, you are completely right about the false reporting–I wouldn’t have done that, although many people said the same thing that Todd said. I can see his point, though–my daughter was robbed at gunpoint last year and the police responded immediately, have followed up with it admirably and the guys who robbed her are in jail. But no one seems to care about hit and run accidents–even my insurance company didn’t try to pursue the guy who hit me a couple of years ago and it cost them thousands of dollars.
I was foolish–as I’ve admitted. But other than when I caught up with the guy to make sure it was the right tag, I was way, way back. Maybe by a mile or so at some points. I could keep track of him because he had his flashers on. And yes, I should’ve gone to the police car–my husband said the same thing (he wasn’t too happy about the following, either), but I thought it was being handled by 911.
I do want to point this out, though: A couple of months ago my daughter’s roommate was in a hit and run and she also pursued the person who hit her. She pulled up next to a patrol car at a stop light and told the officer what had happened. He told her to call in a report, and he wouldn’t follow the other driver. I completely understand not engaging in high-speed chases, but would it have hurt to turn on the blue lights and see if he pulled over? That’s how I felt Monday night, too…
July 11th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
I’ll have to remember this information that neither the police nor the insurance companies care about hit and runs…
I’ve had to drive an oversized vehicle for work the last several years and I am constantly running into things (ie poles and stuff but also other vehicles.)
Sticking around only leads to sky high insurance premiums, in my experience. Hit and run? Apparently that gets you off scot free.
July 11th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
I had an “end snark” tag on that last post which apparently this blog does not like.
But to clarify, I was just being sarcastic.
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