Accusations

On Monday, I had the privilege of being accused of hitting a fourwheeler. I know I didn't do it, beyond a shadow of a doubt!! But the lady was determined to lay blame.

I was backing into a customer's driveway (it is a deadend with no room to turn around) and with the excessive snowbanks encroaching on the parking spots, the cars were staggered out into the driveway. There is typically enough room for 2 trucks side by side, so with the limited space there was still plenty of room for a single truck. The driveway is at least 500 ft long, and once I was planted in the middle of it, no one was going to get around me. There are also 5 businesses in this particular building, with my customer being to the rear. I had waited for several cars to come out before backing in, but once I was in the driveway, I noticed a lady dart out of one of the doors and fly to her car. She proceeded to back out of her spot and pull up behind me. Sorry Chicky, the only way you are getting around me is to pull back into your spot and let me by.

She pulls back into her spot and I creep by in reverse. I noticed her get out of the car and stand by her rear fender. Can't say I blame her for that because if I had a truck within 12" on my car, I would be out watching too.

I can see my fender in my spot mirror. I can see my steps in the little handy dandy "lot lizard" mirror that hangs over the passenger door. I can see at least a foot of pavement between me and the cars. Yes, it was tight! I need to get my trailer over just a little more to the left and did not want to risk getting any closer to the cars, so I pulled forward to give myself a little more room on the right side. Back in reverse, she is still by her fender. I just had made it passed her car and into the fenced area when she comes flying around to my window screaming " You just hit me!!"

My internal reaction was, this lady is crazy! My verbal reaction.. " Really, you would stand between me and your car and let me hit you?"

No, she thinks I hit her car... I didn't. I would have hit HER first. She is irate and screaming at me, so I told her to calm down, as I set forth to inspect the damages. She is continuing to fly off the handle cussing and berating me in typical Jersey Girl fashion. I tried to calm her down by telling her that the situation would be resolved and our insurance would take care of it, IF I was proven guilty, but we would need proper documentation. So the police were called out and while we waited, I grabbed the camera to document damages and vehicle positioning. I also grabbed a tape measure to determine just exactly what part of my truck could have possibly been responsible for the damages. I never found anything that was at the correct height to have scratched the car. The steps were 4 inches too low. The corners of the APU were even further away from the appropriate height. There is nothing else that pokes out and there were no indications on my truck whatsoever that I had made contact with her car. The more I documented, the more upset she became.

The customer I was delivering to, viewed the footage on the camera mounted outside and could not determine that I had hit her. All the employees came out to look and agreed that there was no way I had done this.

After an hour and a half wait, the police finally showed up to take the report. The "victim" then starts screaming at them for taking too long to arrive. I remained calm throughout the whole ordeal, because I was certain of my innocence. I let her have her say and waited to be questioned. First thing I noticed from the officers, were the smirks emblazoned on their faces. They were also trying to calm the lady down, but mentioned to her that there was no way that I had done this. The positioning of the car was all wrong. The only way I could have hit her car in the center of the bumper, parked at that angle, would have been while pulling forward, and the damages would have been a lot worse had I done this in reverse. I would have destroyed the bumper and parts of the fender. She had told them I did it while backing up. She also made a few more mistakes.. She told them she was sitting in the car and heard me hit her. Then she revised her statement and told them she was standing by the car and saw me hit her... Finally, she said she felt me hit her while sitting in the car. Which is it, Lady?

The officers returned to the car while she continued to shoot a few "go to hell" looks in my direction. After filing there report, they returned to give her a copy and as she left, she almost backed into the police car...

Then the officer approached me and handed me a green slip of paper. His instructions were as follows...

" What I suggest you do is get back in your truck and throw this piece of paper away. I did not file an accident report. There was no way you were responsible. Your name and company are not listed on any documentation. The only reason I am handing you this paper is to keep her calm."

He told me that he filed a damage report for her, but the cause of the damage was unknown.. He said he would not in good conscience lay blame at my feet for something he could not visualize having ever happened.

See, the Smokey Bears are not all bad... Thanks again, Suffolk County!!