My Car Gets Rear-Ended

At 5am on June 13th, the day after my birthday, Heather and I woke up to a great crash and the sound of crumpling metal. We both leaped out of bed and ran onto the balcony to witness a black SUV driving away at high speed.  Our neighbor’s car had been rear-ended while parked and slammed into my car. Both cars ended up far onto the sidewalk.  This is a video of us surveying the damage immediately after the hit-and-run.

While we were standing outside, the black SUV suddenly came past us going in the opposite direction at high speed.  It made a distinctive noise from the accident and the front passenger quarter panel being accordioned back.  I have no clue how it managed to continue driving after that wreck.  This is in fact a picture of the black SUV speeding by.

A photo of our cars pushed far up on the curb.  Neither of us had been parked on the sidewalk previously.

My smashed in rear bumper and rear hatch.

Yeah… it shouldn’t be sitting like that on the curb.

As the sun came up more, we took better photos.

My  neighbor on the phone with his insurance.

That’s a long way for a car to be pushed up over and onto a sidewalk.

There was at least five feet separating our cars when we both parked the night before.

After the police arrived to do an incident report, we heard the same distinctive noise from the black SUV’s first drive-by.  In fact, it was the black SUV trying to drive by once more! As the black SUV crested the hill to our east, the driver saw the police car parked in the street, slammed on the brakes, and did a hard U-turn.  We implored the police officer to give chase.  After some convincing, he did.  Some time later, we heard the distinctive rattle from the black SUV once more.  This time, the cop was following the black SUV closely as he made the driver come back to the scene of the crime.

My car up on the sidewalk.

Our neighbor was on the phone with his parents in California.  What a way to be woken up on a Friday!

A little while later, a second police officer showed up.  He had been at a stake-out in the trailer park behind our townhouse complex.  Evidently they had arrested a felon on weapons and methamphetamine charges a few hours before.

While we were talking with the second police officer, a huge cloud of pot smoke wafted over us.  The officer looked at me, Heather, and our neighbor, and asked us if any of us were smoking pot at that very instance.  We obviously said no.  He stepped out into the street where he could get a better look at the driver in the black SUV.  The driver was chain smoking something.  The officer came back to us and stated that things might get more interesting.

A short time later, the first and second officers asked the driver to step out of the car.  The driver obliged.  They then asked to search the black SUV.  The driver consented.  Immediately they found a very large bag of pot in the driver’s purse.  Next they asked for a field sobriety test.  The driver refused.  At this point, the driver was barely able to stand without assistance.  The police called for an ambulance to come and examine the driver.  The black SUV’s air bags had not gone off and there was some concern that the driver might have a head injury.  The ambulance arrived, checked out the driver, gave the drive a clean bill of health, and waited.  The police then asked to do another sobriety test with the ambulance there.  Again the driver refused.  At this point, the police arrested the driver.  Next, the police called for tow trucks for both my neighbor’s car and the black SUV.

 

Here is another video of the aftermath.  I took this after the black SUV had been brought back to the scene of the hit-and-run.  What a strange thing to wake up to on the morning after I turned 31!

The back side of my poor car.  My neighbor’s car had his radiator broken and engine pushed back when it hit the rear of my car.  Impressive damage forsomeone hitting a couple parked cars!

Somehow neither of my tail lights or the rear glass were busted.

Here’s an idea of how far the car was shoved up onto the sidewalk.  The parking brake was set and the car was in gear.

I was able to move my car of the street into the complex parking lot where a space had finally opened up.  The rear liftgate wouldn’t close and lock though.  At this point, my insurance issued me a rental car.

My neighbor’s car being loaded onto a wrecker.

The black SUV being loaded onto a wrecker.

This is where the unibody and bumper were pushed into the spare tire wheel well.

Damage to the rear liftgate.

The bumper had been previously scuffed.  Now it was legitimately broken.

Some evidence of the scrape marks from where my car was forced up over the sidewalk.

After just over a month, I finally had my car back from the auto body shop.  On the recommendation of the owner of my CrossFit gym, I used Jewell Auto Body.  I am satisfied with their work.

The rear liftgate all back to normal.  I hope my car doesn’t get into an accident again anytime soon.  What a headache!