It's not all the work we've put into this house that is causing drivers by to stop and take pictures. I wish I were telling of our immaculately landscaped yard where a plethora of flowers bloom and a lush, green lawn grows that makes one pause to behold its beauty and thus feel the need to stop and take pictures. No, that's not quite the story I have to tell. It's because Michael's car was totaled night before last, and now sits in our driveway, that people are doing double takes and even coming back by to take photos at our house!
I have joked a bit on my blog about my being OCD, but the truth is that I am. So, I have to play everything out in my mind and try to analyze certain situations so that I can better understand them. I need for things to make sense. It amazes me that Michael and Ethan had just headed home in our car and left Michael's car at our house, parked in the street. Normally, Michael and Ethan come by the house and carpool with Shawn to the restaurant, leaving whichever of their cars they drove over behind. Michael/Ethan usually takes his car home at night but for no reason other than wanting to get home faster that night, the boys dropped Shawn off and left Michael's car parked in front of our mailbox. Not 15 minutes later I heard what sounded like an explosion and within seconds was out the front door with Trevor at my heels. About 12 of our neighbors including a couple from the next street over, also heard the noise and came out to see what had happened. Sadly, it was a neighbor who'd had one too many drinks and came plowing down the hill at 50-55 mph in his Hummer, colliding into Michael's Lexus straight on. It sent the Lexus forward about 40-45 feet, up and into a neighbors yard. Trev and I watched in bewilderment to see the driver of the Hummer casually pull into his driveway a few houses down the street, slowly get out of the car, and walk inside his house as if nothing had happened.
After it becoming obvious that the man had no intentions of coming down to acknowledge what he'd done, some of the neighbors went to confront him. He walked up the street and told us that it was his wife who was driving the Hummer when it hit Michael's car. I could smell alcohol on him, though I was ten feet away from him. He was by all accounts intoxicated and slowly murmured "tell me the cost and I'll pay the damages" and then went back home. That didn't work out for him. My next door neighbor, a canine unit officer, had the accident on film from cameras on his house and radio'd in the hit and run. When the police came we all gave our statements to them and they went down to the man's house to talk to him. We'd told the police that he was driving but had claimed it had been his wife. When the police went to talk to him they told him that his wife would go to jail for leaving the scene of an accident, believing that he would then cave in and confess that he had been driving. He had the gall to tell the police he was just fine with them taking his wife to jail. That is pure cowardice in my book! As it turned out, Michael's car was not the first thing this man had hit that night. The other side of his Hummer had bark fragments and leaves on it from hitting a tree, which the police located after scouring our neighborhood. The guy has a previous DUI. His wife later came out of the house in her pajamas...what a surprise...she had been sleeping, along with their three young children. She wasn't going to take the rap for him and gave a written statement saying as much to the officers. The man was arrested, taken to jail and the car impounded for evidence. Having a prior conviction for drinking under the influence, leaving the scene of not one, but two accidents in one night that he caused and then lying to police to save his own skin may put him in prison.
I suppose I'm telling you the story because I feel so thankful that Michael and Ethan were not at the car, in the car, or getting into the car, when this happened. They would not have survived the impact of this crash. Glass, metal and debris were into the front seat. Everything under the hood of Michael's car was shifted forward, including the engine, by several inches, just from the impact. Think of what would have happened to a human beings neck. Snap! I'm so thankful that noone was injured, including the drunk driver. I can't tell you how I hurt for his children and wife. And, though it really makes me angry that he was going to let his wife take the rap for this, I also am thankful that he hit Michael's car...for had it not been parked in the street, he'd have missed the curve altogether and driven into a home instead, probably killing himself or someone sleeping inside, or both. I hope he is able to get help for his apparent problem. I do believe things happen for a reason though I don't always understand.
Now, what has been a little funny in this situation, is that we had the car towed into our driveway to get it out of the neighbors yard. It was about 1:30 a.m. by this time and we thought we'd deal with insurance, etc. in the morning. We were all tired. Well, the insurance company has not yet come to tow Michael's car away and since then I have lost count of all the cars that have driven by, stopped or backed up, turned around for a longer look and taken pictures of what is left of Michael's car.
Oh, and one last note...what a testament to the safety of Hummer's...not only did its driver walk away unscathed but the Hummer itself scarcely had a scratch on it!
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