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Dumb Shits, Different Vehicle (Part 1)
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Dumb Shits, Different Vehicle (Part 1) Since Mc offered up his van vandalism story [post 3710808] I have an oddly similar one. Grab a beer (or a weed) it’s a long weird story. To set the scene, SoCal, a few rainy winter days in the late 70s, I am laid up due to a broken foot from a racquetball incident a week or 2 before (a whole other odd story). I had also been working on and driving racecars at this point for 10 years or so, so I know about how cars work and react. I’m living in a small apartment building, 2nd floor of course, which I want to move out of ASAP. I’ve only been in it a month and haven’t unpacked because it is infested due to a neighbor who has some very odd cooking smells coming from their place  . But mostly because, something germane to this story is, there is a fire station down the street, which I was not aware of when I rented the dump. The street has a sort of sharp curve (maybe 45 degrees) one apt building up from mine, with a towing company at the curve across the street. Down the street about 4 blocks was the fire station.I own a 60’s Ford Econoline Pickup (see the pic), which are kind of rare. I had wanted one for a while  cause they looked different, cool and did the same stuff as a regular pickup could. It is kind of a school bus yellow. I always make my vehicles better than they were so I had done some upgrades on this one too. I put in a bigger straight six engine (“more power”), better intake, exhaust and ignition, nice Camaro bucket seats, raised it a bit and added bigger (taller and wider) tires so I could play in the dirt. It was a fun thing to drive and play with and I have a lot of work and cash into it. I always parked it across the street on the outside of the curve, in a spot that was hardly used.A friend asked to borrow it to move and he came to my door one AM to get it. The first thing he said was “What the fuck happened to the van?” I look out the door and it looks fine from my view. He says the front is all fucked up. So I hobble down the stairs (thump, thump, thump down the stairs) and “what the fuck”  . The front, where the steering box was, along with other important parts, was pushed it. So, like Mcmaniac, I call the cops, a guy comes out, takes a report and tells me they will check into it – yeah right. A day passes and nothing so I call, they “didn’t know anything” an understatement. Next day same bs story, so now I’m getting more pissed. I hobble down to the van and give it a good looking over. There are light blue paint chips on it. I hobble back up to my apt and grab my Polaroid camera, a handful of Baggies and hobble back down (thump, thump, thump). I snap a couple pics of the paint chip location and I put some chips in a baggie, there are pieces of glass not from my van (I put them in a baggie). As I do this a guy from a downstairs apt walks up and says there was a traffic sign run over down the street the same night. Hummm, do I go back up and grab the crutches . . . nah, it will be ok  . So I hobble 2 blocks or so to the downed sign and find light blue paint chips (I snap pics and put a chip in another baggie). I figure if the driver couldn’t get more than a few blocks without hitting something else there must have been a significant problem with the car. I look up and figure the fire guys MUST know something; it’s their neighborhood. So I hobble a couple more blocks, I should have got the crutches, and the guys look at me kinda weird as I hobble in. I lay out the story and yes they know about the sign (same night) but not my van, which they like. The cops had come and hauled off the guy (drunk from a bar about a mile the other side of the curve). The car, light blue VW Bug, was in the towing yard by the 45-degree curve. I was about to hobble back but one of the guys drove me there, the bottom of the cast was getting obviously worn down – kinda Mummy-ish looking. The towing guy tells me yeah that car is here and we look at it. It’s an old Bug with the drivers side fender mashed in, there was other “accident” type damage too, the paint was old and dirty, and the tires are pretty worn. There are school bus yellow paint chips; pictures and a paint chip in another baggie. I ask for the details on the situation and towing guys asks if I was “playing detective”, I ignore that, you can imagine what I was thinking  . I get the police report number, officers name and name of the car owner/driver etc. It took hours (hobbling, thump, thump) and I was sore, tired, pissed and cold.Next day, still sore and pissed, I call the officer from the police report ask questions and get some answers. I tell him my van was hit. “I’ll come out and take a look”. He shows up and I tell him what I found (including all the hobbling), but without the part about the other cop, and he looks at all the stuff I have laid out on the table. He goes out and verifies the paint chips etc. were from the places I got them. He says they had wondered how the VW was damaged as bad as it was from just hitting a sign. I tell the officer if he wanted I could reassemble the headlight from what I had and what was left on the VW (in other words I could do their friggin work for them). He said that was OK it “seemed to be” all the same. These are the guys who were eventually going to try to solve the OJ thing.  So, as we’re standing outside the towing yard, I tell him what I figured had happened. Keep in mind my race and car experience, which I didn’t tell the cop . . . yet  . The car came around the corner he wasn’t familiar with (he wasn’t a local), at night in the wet, a bit too fast for the conditions. With the questionable tires and him being “impaired” the Bug went wide and over the centerline. He probably tried to correct but still headed toward my Ford. His driver’s side front fender hit the front driver side of my van. He backed away and tried to leave but his fender was pushed in too far for him to steer well. He drove far enough to get to the sign but couldn’t stay straight (wet, impaired and damaged). Bye, bye sign  , hello fire department guys and police. The officer looks at me, with the duct taped cast, and says “What are you some kind of Columbo?” I gave him a stare that looked just short of ‘up yours a-hole’. He starts to write a report and I let him. I let him get about half way, cause I’m still pissed , and “innocently” say, “Oh I have one of those.”  He looks at me and I hand it to him and tell him the other officer said they “didn’t know anything”, with a smirk. He knows I’m a smartass but they had been dumbasses so now were kind of even. I get a copy of the drunk driving accident report, which says pretty much as I had told them. It verifies everything I figured happened, including which bar he had been in. Next I have to deal with the drunken guy’s attorney and the insurance companies. I’ll post that whole deal up in Part 2. Correction: Upon further review the time frame for this was actually the late 70s. Getting old is really getting . . . old.  When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. |
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Good one there.. hugsssssssssss V Become a blog watcher sweet_vm
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that's a good one coach... Once, when I had a older vehicle parked in front of my house, and, some people decided to remove my stereo and but, not my cds... I was pretty upset that they only took the stereo and left my priceless cds that I burn myself... I call the cops and they come by... I tell them, what has happened and they assume that it had to be some neighborhood wanna be gangsters, 'cause they just took the stereo and could have taken some other items... genius... Then, I ask them what the plan is and how soon can I expect them to recover my stereo and bring it back... they say that the recovery rate on these type of items is very low and that I probably shouldn't expect any results... talk about setting your expectations low... so, I say to them, why don't they dust for prints or semen or something and the officer just stares at me... then, I tell him that on CSI Las Vegas they catch every single criminal no matter how small or how big, and if they needed help, that maybe I should just send the report and any of the sample that they could collect to them... He shakes his head and says that that is just a tv show... and, I say at least they give it the good ole college try... anyway... I sold the car later that year without replacing the stereo... just sayin'... I'll read the next installment... To leave private messages, please use my confidential mailbox at my blog: Good luck!!!
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I have had dealings with LA County cops myself. They won. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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When I walk my dog, I've noticed a number of wing mirrors keep getting broken either by kids who frequent the skate park near me or drunks walking past along the pavement?. The cars are parked at the owners risk when they go into work. I'd never park my car there.
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