Last January (well, New Year's Eve), we had a hunk of a huge tree break off and fall on our garage and car in the driveway. Over $20000 in damage. Got it all fixed.
This past Friday night, we're sound asleep, 1:30 in the morning. We hear/feel this huge thud and then a car horn is going off. We jump out of bed, look first out the window over the driveway to make sure someone didn't plow into our truck. Nothing. Look out the front window- there is a Ford Explorer wedged between our front porch and a holly tree in the yard. I go outside, the horn is blaring, the SUV is sitting there with the lights still on, air bags deployed, and no one to be seen. There's this not so good electric burning smell, so I reach in and put it in park and turn off the ignition, but the horn is still blaring. I'm standing there looking at the footprints leading away from the car, thinking about getting Gunnar out to track them down, when this kid comes walking up the street. Drunk as a skunk, and he starts apologizing. "Please don't call the cops, please. There's no damage to your house, Please don't call the cops, I'm so sorry" that kind of stuff. I tell him "I have to call someone, there's a wrecked car against my house" My temper is rising up, and I'm about to toss the kid off the porch like a rag doll (sorry officer, I don't know how he got all bloody, it must have been from the accident!), so I go inside. Meanwhile my wife is on with 911 and the kid leaves again. By the time the cops get there, which is within a couple minutes, they caught him and the 2nd kid who was in the car. The passenger's dad owned the suv- why he let the other kid drive is beyond me, because that kid wasn't drunk, while the driver was blitzed.
He had gone up on the curb about 50 yards up the street, sideswiped a telephone pole which tore up the entire right side of the vehicle, careened across my front yard, banged into my porch (which is solid brick) which threw the car sideways where the back end hit the holly tree. All the back windows were blown out, 3 tires were shredded, parts were strewn all down the street. It's amazing that both kids walked (ran!) away from this. Even luckier is that if not for my porch and the tree, the vehicle could have ended up inside the house. If my daughter had been home, her car would have been right in the path, it would have been tossed into our truck, and there would have been lots of damage. We were up with the police til about 3am or so. Of course, the kids go to my wife's school. What gets me is the driver's mother and family show up and are out there talking to the police and stuff- and not one of them came over and said a word to us, like sorry this happened, or is everything ok. The owner of the car came over Saturday but we weren't home, he was trying to find out if the other kid was driving for sure. I'm probably going to call my homeowners insurance company and at least get someone out to inspect things, since the house shook pretty good from the impact with the porch.
Franco (our exchange student) and Mike (our "adopted" son who is staying here) both slept thru the whole thing. Even with the horn blaring for 15 minutes straight, right under Mike's window, he had no idea what had happened!
Lots of luck on this one, but I'd prefer my January's be a bit quieter!
This past Friday night, we're sound asleep, 1:30 in the morning. We hear/feel this huge thud and then a car horn is going off. We jump out of bed, look first out the window over the driveway to make sure someone didn't plow into our truck. Nothing. Look out the front window- there is a Ford Explorer wedged between our front porch and a holly tree in the yard. I go outside, the horn is blaring, the SUV is sitting there with the lights still on, air bags deployed, and no one to be seen. There's this not so good electric burning smell, so I reach in and put it in park and turn off the ignition, but the horn is still blaring. I'm standing there looking at the footprints leading away from the car, thinking about getting Gunnar out to track them down, when this kid comes walking up the street. Drunk as a skunk, and he starts apologizing. "Please don't call the cops, please. There's no damage to your house, Please don't call the cops, I'm so sorry" that kind of stuff. I tell him "I have to call someone, there's a wrecked car against my house" My temper is rising up, and I'm about to toss the kid off the porch like a rag doll (sorry officer, I don't know how he got all bloody, it must have been from the accident!), so I go inside. Meanwhile my wife is on with 911 and the kid leaves again. By the time the cops get there, which is within a couple minutes, they caught him and the 2nd kid who was in the car. The passenger's dad owned the suv- why he let the other kid drive is beyond me, because that kid wasn't drunk, while the driver was blitzed.
He had gone up on the curb about 50 yards up the street, sideswiped a telephone pole which tore up the entire right side of the vehicle, careened across my front yard, banged into my porch (which is solid brick) which threw the car sideways where the back end hit the holly tree. All the back windows were blown out, 3 tires were shredded, parts were strewn all down the street. It's amazing that both kids walked (ran!) away from this. Even luckier is that if not for my porch and the tree, the vehicle could have ended up inside the house. If my daughter had been home, her car would have been right in the path, it would have been tossed into our truck, and there would have been lots of damage. We were up with the police til about 3am or so. Of course, the kids go to my wife's school. What gets me is the driver's mother and family show up and are out there talking to the police and stuff- and not one of them came over and said a word to us, like sorry this happened, or is everything ok. The owner of the car came over Saturday but we weren't home, he was trying to find out if the other kid was driving for sure. I'm probably going to call my homeowners insurance company and at least get someone out to inspect things, since the house shook pretty good from the impact with the porch.
Franco (our exchange student) and Mike (our "adopted" son who is staying here) both slept thru the whole thing. Even with the horn blaring for 15 minutes straight, right under Mike's window, he had no idea what had happened!
Lots of luck on this one, but I'd prefer my January's be a bit quieter!
I guess with enough alcohol, you can feel pretty good with any injury, LOL
