kerewin's whine cellar

Class C Felony

I really wanted to thank everyone who left a comment on my previous post about going on vacation. However, I sorta accidently forgot to hit "publish" on said post. Oops.

So I went on vacation. It started out with a little volunteer action at IPNC and then moved into some camping downtime along the Washington and Oregon coasts. It ended with 3 days of family reunion in Manzanita. Quick recap = Drive, wine, wine, wine, work, work, wine, work, wine, wine, wine, drive home, unpack, wash, pack, make list for camping stuff, spend hours arguing over list with husband (he thinks you should just toss two sleeping bags in the car and go), shopping for food, driving, ferry, camping, ocean, driving, camping, ocean, family reunion, cooking, eating, eating, eating, drinking, bocce, eating, drinking, sleeping, driving home without air conditioning.

The craziest thing happened today. We had to tank up in Manzanita and wash the dirty windshield of said a/c-less vehicle. Since the Hub was driving, he got to pay and wash. I was reading a Summer Rental Book (hello, the renters just leave them there, you don't have to feel guilty for taking them) and heard this yelling from a beater sedan that was parked perpendicular to the gas station. Some Dumas in a large white SUV pulled up and parked illegally, parallel. Then she backed up, right into the other car. Driver of the sedan saw the SUV coming and started yelling. I looked up in time to see the dark sedan rock, evidence that the SUV hit it. SUV pulls forward a little and parks. A blond girl barely in her early twenties gets out and shuts her cell phone. The older lady in the sedan gets out, obviously frazzled. They exchange words. The young girl seems to be blissfully unaware that she just hit someone with her car.

In fact, she looks as if she is about to argue that the dark sedan hit her. They point, have more words, then the young girl gets in her SUV and tears out of the parking lot. Since they have to drive right past us, I get a full view of the license plate. I write it down and get out of our Vanagon and head over. I ask the lady who was hit if the other person just drove away without giving her information. Turns out she basically left the scene of the crime. The older lady said there wasn't any visual damage to her car, just some dust wiped off, but her arm was sticking out the window when the SUV backed up and she squeezed it between the cars. At that point the girl said, "Well you don't have any damage, it doesn't matter," and left! So I gave the older lady the license plate number and wrote down some contact information for her. A very old lady is in the passenger seat and seems very grateful. A third girl who was in the back got out and we told the driver that she should call the police.

I go back to our car and get in. Because he missed it, I recap everything for the Hub. Strangely enough, right then a police car pulls out from some side street and starts to drive almost right past us. Kevo gets out and flags him down sends him over to the ladies at the sedan. I walk over just to see if he needs any more information from me. Turns out I was the only one who saw what direction the SUV went, and the description of the driver. Police guy gets my address in addition to name and phone number, I hear him radio to someone about watching the highway going North towards Cannon Beach.

I get in the car ready for our trip back to Seattle and for the next few minutes the Hub and I go over what happened again and again. How horrible it was, how the driver of the SUV seemed like some sort of righteous silver spoon. How we hope that the information we gave helps in any way. How unlikely it seems that it will. The strangest part is that it was a very minor accident. All the young girl had to do was act a bit sorry, give up her contact information and maybe see if the other lady needed any medical attention. No cop would even bother with such a silly accident. It probably wouldn't ever go on any driving record.

Fifteen or so minutes later we are approaching Cannon Beach and see a cop with flashing lights on the side of the road, just ahead of him a white roof of a large SUV. "Could it be?" we asked ourselves. As we drove by we saw the 123 XYZ plate that matched what I wrote down, a very pissed young girl in the driver seat, and a cop searching the car.

I feel like we won one for the little guy today. Turns out in Oregon leaving the scene of the crime can be considered a Class C Felony.

Posted by kerewin at August 6, 2006 09:24 PM