Hit by an OVI driver the other night (pics)

[Don]

UPDATE

I have a confession to make, I am CURRENTLY an LEO and my reaction to chase her and cut her off was purely instinctual, nothing more, nothing less. ALSO, my wife got a call from her insurance adjuster this morning, who lied and said she had talked to ME yesterday and that I had already OK`ed everything, and told her they were totaling my car. They wanted her Email address and for her to send them my title ... they would then pay us $3,700 for my car ... I DON`T THINK SO.

The body shop can`t figure why they want to total the car, they say the damage is 99% cosmetic - external panels etc.SO the shop is doing some checking for me too.

BTW - Does anyone know how to "unmelt" the witch from "The Wizard of OZ?" I really think I`m going to have a need for her flying monkeys soon when I contact the ambulance-chasing law firms. All I want is three things: A car with 1) A manual trans, decent gas mileage, and a 6-disc, in-dash CD player, which is exactly what I have now


I know I haven`t been on in a while, I`ve been busy with work and family. But I recently did my civic duty and got a drunk driver off the streets before she could kill anyone ...

No names have been changed to protect anyone ...

I was driving home from work Friday night and had just stopped at Burger King for the kids and decided that some onion rings sounded good. Well, I continued heading home and the odor of fresh onion rings was filling the car. I made the turn onto the main road that leads to my street and just as I started to accelerate, I had to SLAM on the brakes because a woman pulled out of the Taco Bell parking lot, without stopping right in front of me ...

... I ALMOST missed her, but my left front corner smacked her left rear quarter panel. I stop, but she keeps going! I spin around, beat her to the intersection and cut her off (This is not something I recommend anyone doing). I get out of my car (had to force the door) and approach her window. She`s sitting there puffing on a cigarette and then throws it out the window at me. (she didn`t know I was there!) Then she says: "Oh, did I hit you?" I tell her she did, noticing the "I don`t know where I am or what`s going on" look on her face and thought to myself: "Aw, hell, she`s bombed." Traffic is starting to back up and with her wedged in and not able to go anywhere, I start waving traffic around (while still keeping an eye on her). After a minute or so, I saw headlights pulling up and I started to wave it away, when I noticed it was the locals. OK, cool. Let them handle this.

I hand off my insurance and DL to the officer then go back and lean up against my crumpled fender, lighting one up to help with the adrenaline rush (I know, a bad habit...). A second local quickly arrives and I am told to drive my car into the bank parking lot adjacent to where we were so we could clear traffic. I pull around to the front of the bank and they pull her car to the rear of the bank where they dealt with her. They seemed to want to keep us separate, because no one came to talk to me for several minutes. Finally the officer comes back around and said: "You ARE NOT at fault," with a funny tone in his voice. I look at him and ask: "Drunk?" He looked away and said: "Well, I can`t really say, but it IS the holiday season and what is it people do a lot of during the holiday season." So I thought, OK, she`s drunk, figures, just my luck. They cut me loose, so I just happened to drive around to the back of the back to get to the main road, and I see them giving her the Field Sobriety Tests and from the looks of things, not doing a very good job of it.

I drive away with my inner fender rubbing against my tire (I only drove it away because I was less than 100 yards from my house). I felt good in spite of the accident because I got a drunk off the road before she killed someone ... BUT ... this was the 2nd time I got hit by someone pulling out of this Taco Bell, and what`s WORSE...





... That`s when I realized that my nice, hot onion rings hadn`t survived the crash. They were now cold and scattered all over my dirty floor mat on the passenger side, and all I was left with was their lingering aroma ...

... UPDATE

I got the police report from my little accident Friday night. Seems that the woman who hit me, blew a .206 at 5:00 o`clock in the evening Roughly 2.5X Ohio`s legal limit of 0.08. At 62 years old, I would have expected more common sense than that, but I guess I shouldn`t be surprised.

PS: I still don`t know how much $ of damage was done to my car, BUT her insurance company told me during a taped interview, they are taking FULL responsibility. At least I have a nice, late-model Jeep Patriot to play with.


Taco_Bell_Drunk.jpg

[Ronkh]

Glad you are OK.

[Accumulator]

Don- Yikes, so sorry to hear about this! Glad you`re OK though.

And I *did* just have to chuckle about your "..I recently did my civic duty and got a drunk driver off the streets before she could kill anyone ..." Too bad your car had to pay the price though!

[Joshs2013MSAltimaSL]

Glad you`re ok man. I hope her license is suspended for a long long time.

[trashmanssd]

I would say I hope she learns her lesson but I am older and wiser then I used to be and I know its about a 5% chance she changes her ways. Hope you are ok and the insurance companies keep you whole and you are not out of pocket for any of this.

[RaysWay]

Top priority is that you`re ok Don! I can`t stand hearing about drunk drivers.

[Stokdgs]

Don !
Wow - glad you and yours are ok !
Sorry this had to happen - but glad that you helped get this dang drunk lady off the road...
Hope your car comes out ok through the process and all will be good again soonest..

Thanks for your awesome help with this on going challenge...drinking and driving...

Merry Christmas !
Dan F

[Sizzle Chest]

First, yes, glad you are ok and that your car is going to be taken care of. Also a big thank you for getting her off the road and doing the right thing!

[bigfish528]

Better your car then you but you did your part and most likely saved a life or two. People at that age still doing what she did most likely will not change and the only way to protect the public is jail time but or house arrest; anything to keep these selfish people off the road.

[The Driver]

Glad your ok, thats the most important thing. Been there with those drunk drivers, they are the WORST and have no regard for human life.

[tropicsteve]

i`m a retired p/o, disabled while trying to stop a wrong way drunk driver who then hit my cruiser head on, but fortunately, not the folks behind me. (of course he was not injured) my son was an officer who was responding to a drunk driver call when another 3 time dui ran a light and broadsided him. took 45 mins. just to cut him out of his cruiser. took 2 surgeries and a year to get him back together again, so yes, thanks for blocking that drunk in and stopping further destruction. glad you`re ok, but be aware some spine injuries don`t immediately show symptoms, so take care of yourself.

[House of Wax]

All things considered it could have been much worse. Cars are easy to fix. Glad you`re ok

[65chevy]

sorry don for your poor car

[Pats300zx]

Glad you are ok Don. Just imagine the potential for how bad this really could have turnout. Scary !!

[Ccrew]

Glad you`re OK. Cars can be replaced, people not so much.

Next door neighbor is one of those guys you have to try hard to like. Just found out he`s in jail for his 3rd DUI. Got pulled over, ran from the cops, wrecked. Kept driving 15 miles and wrecked again. Guy is like my age and I`m almost 60. You`d think at that age they`d learn wouldn`t you? This guy is a guaranteed year in jail in our state.